Joel Snyder, Ph.D., is known internationally as one of the first “audio describers.” His abilities as a describer have made thousands of live theater productions, media events, and museum exhibitions accessible to visually impaired audience members and visitors. In media, Dr. Snyder has used audio description to enhance PBS’ American Playhouse productions, ABC and Fox network broadcasts, feature films, the IMAX film “Blue Planet” and the Planetarium show “And A Star To Steer Her By” at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum. At the National Captioing Institute, he led a staff that produced description for nationally broadcast films and network series including, for the first time, “Sesame Street” broadcasts and DVDs.

Dr. Snyder’s Audio Description Associates, LLC also develops audio described tours for major museums including the writing/voicing of an audio described tour of the National Aquarium in Baltimore, the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, FL, and National Park Service and US Forest Service facilities.

Internationally, he has spoken on description or trained describers in more than 60 countries. His book, “The Visual Made Verbal: A Comprehensive Training Manual and Guide to the History and Applications of Audio Description,” was published in English by the American Council of the Blind in 2014. As of 2023, it is available in Braille, two audio book versions, and in Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Russian, Italian, and Chinese.Snyder’s PhD is in audiovisual translation/audio description from the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona.

Specialties: Access awareness; public speaking; media production; non-profits / fund-raising.