From Vision Australia. This is talking vision. And now here's your host Sam Colley.

From Vision Australia. This is talking vision. And now here's your host Sam Colley.

Hello, everyone. It's great to be here with you. And for the next half hour we talk matters of blindness and low vision.

Hello, everyone. It's great to be here with you. And for the next half hour we talk matters of blindness and low vision.

We want to try it and In-stadium experience this year and hopefully get some accessible audio into people's headphones, you know, within 100 milliseconds of it actually happening on the court. So I think that will be an incredible experience. Lots to do, lots of technical hurdles to jump to get that done. But we're not afraid of doing that. And um, yeah, if there's anyone who wants to come down and got some headphones and they want to sample that experience, we'd love to hear from you.

We want to try it and In-stadium experience this year and hopefully get some accessible audio into people's headphones, you know, within 100 milliseconds of it actually happening on the court. So I think that will be an incredible experience. Lots to do, lots of technical hurdles to jump to get that done. But we're not afraid of doing that. And um, yeah, if there's anyone who wants to come down and got some headphones and they want to sample that experience, we'd love to hear from you.

Welcome to the program. For you tennis fans out there, Action Audio is back in 2025 providing audio feedback for live matches at the Australian Open in real time for listeners who are blind or have low vision, which they can access on a radio or, of course, Vision Australia radio throughout the open. And I catch up with Gerard Mason from Tennis Australia later in the show to talk all about it. But before that chat with Gerard, I chat with Ben Harrington from Travelers Aid, an organisation helping passengers with blindness and low vision to get around the network safely and accessibly. I hope you enjoy this week's episode of Talking Vision with Ben. Harrington is a training officer with Travelers Aid, an organisation providing support, advice and assistance for passengers across Melbourne and regional Victoria with disabilities, Fees, with a range of events going on in Melbourne at the moment, you'll see. Travellers aid in quite a few places. So without further ado, it's my great pleasure to introduce Ben right now to have a chat all about it. Ben, thank you so much for your time today. Great to have you.

Welcome to the program. For you tennis fans out there, Action Audio is back in 2025 providing audio feedback for live matches at the Australian Open in real time for listeners who are blind or have low vision, which they can access on a radio or, of course, Vision Australia radio throughout the open. And I catch up with Gerard Mason from Tennis Australia later in the show to talk all about it. But before that chat with Gerard, I chat with Ben Harrington from Travelers Aid, an organisation helping passengers with blindness and low vision to get around the network safely and accessibly. I hope you enjoy this week's episode of Talking Vision with Ben. Harrington is a training officer with Travelers Aid, an organisation providing support, advice and assistance for passengers across Melbourne and regional Victoria with disabilities, Fees, with a range of events going on in Melbourne at the moment, you'll see. Travellers aid in quite a few places. So without further ado, it's my great pleasure to introduce Ben right now to have a chat all about it. Ben, thank you so much for your time today. Great to have you.

Pleasure to be here. Thanks for having me, Sam.

Pleasure to be here. Thanks for having me, Sam.

Now, Ben, let's start with the basics today. So what is traveller's aid for people out there?

Now, Ben, let's start with the basics today. So what is traveller's aid for people out there?

So Travellers Aid is a not for profit organisation that is set up to assist people with mobility requirements or mobility challenges to get around essentially to navigate Melbourne and the surrounds using public transport. And the services that we offer are sort of designed for for people with mobility challenges. So that can be a demographic ranging from people with disability to older people who just need a bit of support to get around. And so we operate out of the sort of primary transport hubs in Melbourne. So that's Southern Cross station and Flinders Street, and we're also up at Ballarat and Seymour, and we're there stationed to assist people coming through the sites and the stations to get from from A to B and to engage with their community in a way that people without those mobility requirements can, or people with who are able bodied can. And as we're sort of getting into today, that includes people with vision impairments or low vision or blindness.

So Travellers Aid is a not for profit organisation that is set up to assist people with mobility requirements or mobility challenges to get around essentially to navigate Melbourne and the surrounds using public transport. And the services that we offer are sort of designed for for people with mobility challenges. So that can be a demographic ranging from people with disability to older people who just need a bit of support to get around. And so we operate out of the sort of primary transport hubs in Melbourne. So that's Southern Cross station and Flinders Street, and we're also up at Ballarat and Seymour, and we're there stationed to assist people coming through the sites and the stations to get from from A to B and to engage with their community in a way that people without those mobility requirements can, or people with who are able bodied can. And as we're sort of getting into today, that includes people with vision impairments or low vision or blindness.

And how long has the service been running for? I understand it's been around for quite a while. I remember as a younger person with low vision about 20 years ago, it was sort of it was even around then. So it's been going on for quite a while. But let's go back to sort of, I guess, the beginning of things and how that all kicked off.

And how long has the service been running for? I understand it's been around for quite a while. I remember as a younger person with low vision about 20 years ago, it was sort of it was even around then. So it's been going on for quite a while. But let's go back to sort of, I guess, the beginning of things and how that all kicked off.

Yeah, it definitely has been a while, more than 100 years, as I understand it. It sort of actually started all the way back in last century to assist predominantly women who are navigating the city area during wartime. So yeah, obviously a sort of different beginning to to where we are now, but it evolved over time to get us to this point where we're helping primarily people with mobility challenges and disabilities to navigate. So a long and storied history, but that just means that it's become quite a an institution and has a lot of staying power in Melbourne and has always been set up to help people.

Yeah, it definitely has been a while, more than 100 years, as I understand it. It sort of actually started all the way back in last century to assist predominantly women who are navigating the city area during wartime. So yeah, obviously a sort of different beginning to to where we are now, but it evolved over time to get us to this point where we're helping primarily people with mobility challenges and disabilities to navigate. So a long and storied history, but that just means that it's become quite a an institution and has a lot of staying power in Melbourne and has always been set up to help people.

How can people access traveller's aid through those travel hubs such as, you know, Flinders Street, Southern Cross, Ballarat and Seymour that you've mentioned? What's the best way for people to access it that way?

How can people access traveller's aid through those travel hubs such as, you know, Flinders Street, Southern Cross, Ballarat and Seymour that you've mentioned? What's the best way for people to access it that way?

Yeah, so it might be a good opportunity for me to briefly explain some of the services that I can get into the best way to contact. So at the train site or the travellers aid hubs at the stations, we offer connection assistance. So that's essentially getting for example, if example, if you're coming in on a on a V line train and you want to connect to a metro train, but you're not super confident navigating Southern Cross Station, for instance, by yourself. Obviously, we know that public spaces are generally not always where they need to be in terms of accessibility. Um, I know this from first hand experience. I'm legally blind myself. And so navigating Southern Cross Station, particularly when I wasn't as familiar with it a few years back, um, was just a bit of a nightmare, to be honest, because, you know, not a whole lot of signage, a lot of things to bump into.

Yeah, so it might be a good opportunity for me to briefly explain some of the services that I can get into the best way to contact. So at the train site or the travellers aid hubs at the stations, we offer connection assistance. So that's essentially getting for example, if example, if you're coming in on a on a V line train and you want to connect to a metro train, but you're not super confident navigating Southern Cross Station, for instance, by yourself. Obviously, we know that public spaces are generally not always where they need to be in terms of accessibility. Um, I know this from first hand experience. I'm legally blind myself. And so navigating Southern Cross Station, particularly when I wasn't as familiar with it a few years back, um, was just a bit of a nightmare, to be honest, because, you know, not a whole lot of signage, a lot of things to bump into.

Um, multiple levels.

Um, multiple levels.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Really easy to feel lost, feel overwhelmed. Um, so whether that's just personal guidance, getting you from A to B, from a traveller's aid trained staff or volunteer, or whether that's jumping on a buggy, um, which we have driving around the station from personal experience, I can really commend that service for really easing a lot of that anxiety that I have coming in and navigating and feeling like I might be late because I've missed a visual cue or some signage that I couldn't see without that assistance. So yeah, that's a bit about connection and buggy assistance. There's also a companion service where we have one of our again, trained staff or volunteers assisting. If you come in to the station, we can then help you get out to where you need to go. So I'll use another example. We had someone book a companion service to help him get up to the Vision Australia store at Kooyong, I believe. And so they came into Southern Cross and met up with one of our volunteers or staff at our hub there, and then they went together, travelling via public transport to get him to his appointment or to get him to the store there. So again, it's sort of about providing that extra pair of hands and give you a bit more confidence to navigate to where you need to go. On top of all of those services, we offer services at events. So Travellers Aid has been fairly busy. Well, at the moment we're actually at the Australian Open, so it's a bit of all hands on deck there, but providing sort of mobility assistance and personal guidance and buggy service at the open for anyone who needs a bit of an extra hand to get around the venue. Obviously it's a really large venue. I struggle to navigate there, so I understand that a lot of people are sort of in the same boat. If you might be low vision or you have other mobility requirements. I've used the service there not as a staff member of Travellers Aid, but as a spectator of tennis. And again, yeah, really, really helpful just to know that it's there. But you know, it extends to other events. We've been at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show, I've been at the Grand Prix and as we help out the more of these events, I hope it's sort of raising awareness for these event organisers to know that it's really important to have services there for people who need them. So always keep your eye out and see if Travellers Aid is that event you're going to. We also offer disruption service, so when there's maintenance happening on tram tracks or train tracks and you're told to get off at one stop and then make your way to another, and it kind of is obviously, as we as we know, not super obvious to to someone who's vision impaired, for instance, to know where the next stop is. It's about Travelers aid offering that human intervention and getting everyone who needs assistance from one stop to the next that's been disrupted. So it is. Yeah, I might emphasize that it is that human intervention side of things that is quite important to what we do in this service, because as we know and I'm sure many listeners can attest to as well, but it's not really where we need to be in a lot of ways with accessibility of public spaces and public transport. We have a really decent public transport network in Melbourne and more widely in Victoria, with the amount of trams and trains and buses and just sort of the options there. But as we know, it's a bit of an uphill battle to make sure that it's accessible for everyone. So that's sort of where we come in to provide assistance. But to your question on getting in contact and finding out more about these services and booking a service if you need to, you can either reach out to Travellers Aid via email, at info at Travellers Aid, or you can ring up our head office at office at 96542600.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Really easy to feel lost, feel overwhelmed. Um, so whether that's just personal guidance, getting you from A to B, from a traveller's aid trained staff or volunteer, or whether that's jumping on a buggy, um, which we have driving around the station from personal experience, I can really commend that service for really easing a lot of that anxiety that I have coming in and navigating and feeling like I might be late because I've missed a visual cue or some signage that I couldn't see without that assistance. So yeah, that's a bit about connection and buggy assistance. There's also a companion service where we have one of our again, trained staff or volunteers assisting. If you come in to the station, we can then help you get out to where you need to go. So I'll use another example. We had someone book a companion service to help him get up to the Vision Australia store at Kooyong, I believe. And so they came into Southern Cross and met up with one of our volunteers or staff at our hub there, and then they went together, travelling via public transport to get him to his appointment or to get him to the store there. So again, it's sort of about providing that extra pair of hands and give you a bit more confidence to navigate to where you need to go. On top of all of those services, we offer services at events. So Travellers Aid has been fairly busy. Well, at the moment we're actually at the Australian Open, so it's a bit of all hands on deck there, but providing sort of mobility assistance and personal guidance and buggy service at the open for anyone who needs a bit of an extra hand to get around the venue. Obviously it's a really large venue. I struggle to navigate there, so I understand that a lot of people are sort of in the same boat. If you might be low vision or you have other mobility requirements. I've used the service there not as a staff member of Travellers Aid, but as a spectator of tennis. And again, yeah, really, really helpful just to know that it's there. But you know, it extends to other events. We've been at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show, I've been at the Grand Prix and as we help out the more of these events, I hope it's sort of raising awareness for these event organisers to know that it's really important to have services there for people who need them. So always keep your eye out and see if Travellers Aid is that event you're going to. We also offer disruption service, so when there's maintenance happening on tram tracks or train tracks and you're told to get off at one stop and then make your way to another, and it kind of is obviously, as we as we know, not super obvious to to someone who's vision impaired, for instance, to know where the next stop is. It's about Travelers aid offering that human intervention and getting everyone who needs assistance from one stop to the next that's been disrupted. So it is. Yeah, I might emphasize that it is that human intervention side of things that is quite important to what we do in this service, because as we know and I'm sure many listeners can attest to as well, but it's not really where we need to be in a lot of ways with accessibility of public spaces and public transport. We have a really decent public transport network in Melbourne and more widely in Victoria, with the amount of trams and trains and buses and just sort of the options there. But as we know, it's a bit of an uphill battle to make sure that it's accessible for everyone. So that's sort of where we come in to provide assistance. But to your question on getting in contact and finding out more about these services and booking a service if you need to, you can either reach out to Travellers Aid via email, at info at Travellers Aid, or you can ring up our head office at office at 96542600.

So again, that email for people out there. Info at travelsafe. Warrego and the phone number 96542600. Now I'm keen to hear about the work you've been doing at Travelsafe as the training officer there. Tell us a bit about that.

So again, that email for people out there. Info at travelsafe. Warrego and the phone number 96542600. Now I'm keen to hear about the work you've been doing at Travelsafe as the training officer there. Tell us a bit about that.

Yeah, I'm glad you asked. Um, super interesting for people like myself who are visually impaired, because this is some really interesting work that I'm lucky enough to be a part of. So I became a training officer at Traveller's Aid a couple of years back, and this is around where we inherited a training programme back from the Department of Transport that we originally were running years prior, and it's called travelling in the Shoes of Others. Um, and it's an experiential disability awareness training to sort of get people who are working primarily in the public transport sector or the transport sector generally to, for a few hours, take a trip in the conditions that someone with a disability might be traveling in. So using a wheelchair and putting on some vision impairment, simulating goggles and using a cane and sort of splitting into groups and yeah, sort of testing out how that goes for them. Obviously, you know, disability awareness training can be fraught, I suppose, in the sense that it's only offering a brief window into that. And a lot of the times these things are run by disability support, people who might not have first hand experience. And there's value in that, obviously. But when we picked this, this training up to to run it back again, it was really important to us that it's run by or facilitated by people with disability. So that includes myself. We have other facilitators with vision impairments or who are blind. We have facilitators with physical impairments who use an electric wheelchair. Intellectual disabilities as well. So it's really about providing that first hand experience and centering our voices in order to have a few people come out of these sessions with a heightened awareness or a greater awareness of how they can apply accessibility in their workplaces, but also go out and really just have a greater awareness for how people with disability travel and get around and the barriers we're up against and hopefully have just sort of a greater general community awareness for the challenges that we're up against.

Yeah, I'm glad you asked. Um, super interesting for people like myself who are visually impaired, because this is some really interesting work that I'm lucky enough to be a part of. So I became a training officer at Traveller's Aid a couple of years back, and this is around where we inherited a training programme back from the Department of Transport that we originally were running years prior, and it's called travelling in the Shoes of Others. Um, and it's an experiential disability awareness training to sort of get people who are working primarily in the public transport sector or the transport sector generally to, for a few hours, take a trip in the conditions that someone with a disability might be traveling in. So using a wheelchair and putting on some vision impairment, simulating goggles and using a cane and sort of splitting into groups and yeah, sort of testing out how that goes for them. Obviously, you know, disability awareness training can be fraught, I suppose, in the sense that it's only offering a brief window into that. And a lot of the times these things are run by disability support, people who might not have first hand experience. And there's value in that, obviously. But when we picked this, this training up to to run it back again, it was really important to us that it's run by or facilitated by people with disability. So that includes myself. We have other facilitators with vision impairments or who are blind. We have facilitators with physical impairments who use an electric wheelchair. Intellectual disabilities as well. So it's really about providing that first hand experience and centering our voices in order to have a few people come out of these sessions with a heightened awareness or a greater awareness of how they can apply accessibility in their workplaces, but also go out and really just have a greater awareness for how people with disability travel and get around and the barriers we're up against and hopefully have just sort of a greater general community awareness for the challenges that we're up against.

And with those stations like Flinders Street, Southern Cross, I can't speak for Seymour, but also Ballarat. I've noticed in recent years there have been a few more features here and there. You know, things like tactile surfaces on the floor, which even for myself as someone with quite a bit of usable vision, is still quite helpful to get around from point A to point B, even with how gigantic the stations are. But also there's been a fair bit more audio feedback. You know, you have things like catching the V line. It says, oh, you have to go to platform seven B and you know, that's that's a bit a bit tricky for people out there, you know. They might think, well, where's seven b? I'm on seven A, you know, how do I get from the other, you know, side of wherever to that. And that's I guess also where Travelers Aid comes in with, you know, helping people get their head around those sort of things. Because as you know, the platforms, the V line platforms are so long. So that's definitely something that's very important. But the fact that there is that audio thing saying, hi, you know, your train is leaving in this much time, you have this much time to get there and whatever, which is great, but people have to know how to get there. So I guess. Exactly. Yeah, that's where there is progress being made. But also Travelers Aid is as important as ever to sort of fill those gaps that are still there.

And with those stations like Flinders Street, Southern Cross, I can't speak for Seymour, but also Ballarat. I've noticed in recent years there have been a few more features here and there. You know, things like tactile surfaces on the floor, which even for myself as someone with quite a bit of usable vision, is still quite helpful to get around from point A to point B, even with how gigantic the stations are. But also there's been a fair bit more audio feedback. You know, you have things like catching the V line. It says, oh, you have to go to platform seven B and you know, that's that's a bit a bit tricky for people out there, you know. They might think, well, where's seven b? I'm on seven A, you know, how do I get from the other, you know, side of wherever to that. And that's I guess also where Travelers Aid comes in with, you know, helping people get their head around those sort of things. Because as you know, the platforms, the V line platforms are so long. So that's definitely something that's very important. But the fact that there is that audio thing saying, hi, you know, your train is leaving in this much time, you have this much time to get there and whatever, which is great, but people have to know how to get there. So I guess. Exactly. Yeah, that's where there is progress being made. But also Travelers Aid is as important as ever to sort of fill those gaps that are still there.

Yeah. I think you're spot on in saying that there's a lot of work being done to make things more accessible. Um, obviously we have the big Metro tunnel coming through in Melbourne, which is now that we're designing newer and newer stations, it means that that greater sort of awareness of accessibility requirements is a bit more in the conscious of builders. And so hopefully we're going to come out with train stations and public transport that's generally more accessible. But obviously, you know, there's always going to be laws. There's always going to be things that we we realise down the track that wasn't set up properly. So I think having travellers aid in your back pocket when you travel, um, as a safety net, as something you can rely on to to get you where you need to go, is something that is really useful for someone like myself and someone I'm sure the same for you, Sam, and I really hope it can can offer that lifeline to people who are tuning in and keen to travel and have that confidence about where they're going.

Yeah. I think you're spot on in saying that there's a lot of work being done to make things more accessible. Um, obviously we have the big Metro tunnel coming through in Melbourne, which is now that we're designing newer and newer stations, it means that that greater sort of awareness of accessibility requirements is a bit more in the conscious of builders. And so hopefully we're going to come out with train stations and public transport that's generally more accessible. But obviously, you know, there's always going to be laws. There's always going to be things that we we realise down the track that wasn't set up properly. So I think having travellers aid in your back pocket when you travel, um, as a safety net, as something you can rely on to to get you where you need to go, is something that is really useful for someone like myself and someone I'm sure the same for you, Sam, and I really hope it can can offer that lifeline to people who are tuning in and keen to travel and have that confidence about where they're going.

For sure. Well, you know, it's both, um, public transport users with low vision. We could, you know, talk for hours and hours, Ben. But, um, I think, um, that's all the time we have for today. I'll, um, have to get you back on. And we might even, you know, talk about a travel podcast one day. Watch this space. Who knows?

For sure. Well, you know, it's both, um, public transport users with low vision. We could, you know, talk for hours and hours, Ben. But, um, I think, um, that's all the time we have for today. I'll, um, have to get you back on. And we might even, you know, talk about a travel podcast one day. Watch this space. Who knows?

But big.

But big.

Things. Yeah. For sure. But, um. Yeah. Today I've been speaking with Ben Harrington, training officer from Travelers Aid, here, to chat to me all about the service running through Flinders Street, Southern Cross, Ballarat and Seymour stations for people out there to get where they're going safely and accessibly. Ben, thank you so much for your time today. It was great to catch up with you and talk about Travelers Aid.

Things. Yeah. For sure. But, um. Yeah. Today I've been speaking with Ben Harrington, training officer from Travelers Aid, here, to chat to me all about the service running through Flinders Street, Southern Cross, Ballarat and Seymour stations for people out there to get where they're going safely and accessibly. Ben, thank you so much for your time today. It was great to catch up with you and talk about Travelers Aid.

Thank you so much for having me on, Sam. I really appreciate it.

Thank you so much for having me on, Sam. I really appreciate it.

I'm Sam Culley and you're listening to Talking Vision on Vision Australia Radio. Associated Stations of Reading Radio and the Community Radio Network. I hope you enjoyed that conversation there with Ben Harrington. If you missed any part of that conversation with Ben or you'd love to hear it again. Talking vision is available on the podcast app of your choice or through the Vision Australia library. You can also find the program on the Vision Australia Radio website at RVA radio.org. That's RVA radio.org. Back for its fifth iteration in 2025. It's about that time of year for Action Audio in collaboration with Australian Open Radio and Vision Australia Radio. As the Australian Open kicks off this week to have a chat with us all about action Audio. It's my great pleasure to welcome Tennis Australia's Jared Mason. Jared, welcome to Talking Vision. Thank you very much for your time today.

I'm Sam Culley and you're listening to Talking Vision on Vision Australia Radio. Associated Stations of Reading Radio and the Community Radio Network. I hope you enjoyed that conversation there with Ben Harrington. If you missed any part of that conversation with Ben or you'd love to hear it again. Talking vision is available on the podcast app of your choice or through the Vision Australia library. You can also find the program on the Vision Australia Radio website at RVA radio.org. That's RVA radio.org. Back for its fifth iteration in 2025. It's about that time of year for Action Audio in collaboration with Australian Open Radio and Vision Australia Radio. As the Australian Open kicks off this week to have a chat with us all about action Audio. It's my great pleasure to welcome Tennis Australia's Jared Mason. Jared, welcome to Talking Vision. Thank you very much for your time today.

Thanks for having me, Sam.

Thanks for having me, Sam.

Now, today, Jared. We're here to talk about Action Audio in particular, your involvement with the upcoming Australian Open. Well, by the time this goes to air, it'll already be underway. But could you tell us a little bit about Action Audio?

Now, today, Jared. We're here to talk about Action Audio in particular, your involvement with the upcoming Australian Open. Well, by the time this goes to air, it'll already be underway. But could you tell us a little bit about Action Audio?

Yeah.

Yeah.

So Action Audio is a accessibility product that was developed by Tennis Australia in partnership with a company called Acacca. We started broadcasting this in 2021. And what it is is it's a special synchronized audio feed that goes along with the radio broadcast, and it lets people with blindness or low vision understand what's happening on the court. We have different sounds for forehand and backhand and different ways of representing how close the ball has bounced to a line and things like that. And we just want to give people with blindness or low vision an insight into what's going on on the court that they might not otherwise get.

So Action Audio is a accessibility product that was developed by Tennis Australia in partnership with a company called Acacca. We started broadcasting this in 2021. And what it is is it's a special synchronized audio feed that goes along with the radio broadcast, and it lets people with blindness or low vision understand what's happening on the court. We have different sounds for forehand and backhand and different ways of representing how close the ball has bounced to a line and things like that. And we just want to give people with blindness or low vision an insight into what's going on on the court that they might not otherwise get.

Jared, how did that all sort of come about? In amongst all of the accessibility Ability initiatives that Tennis Australia has implemented over the years. Where did Action Audio fit within all of that, and what sort of made that all possible? Back in 2021?

Jared, how did that all sort of come about? In amongst all of the accessibility Ability initiatives that Tennis Australia has implemented over the years. Where did Action Audio fit within all of that, and what sort of made that all possible? Back in 2021?

Yeah, it's an interesting story. It kind of came from our innovation team, because we had been talking with Akqa about doing some work around using the data to do something interesting. There's a whole program of things that go on here every summer, where we make data available to different companies to do interesting things, and some of those projects are accessibility projects. Some of them are just entertainment or sports science and things like that. In this instance, we were interested in doing something with the data, came along with some ideas, but our innovation director, Mark read, sort of recognised that some of the ideas that they were putting forward were they were about synchronizing sounds with the tennis to make entertainment for entertainment purposes. But Mark saw the possibility of maybe synchronizing sounds with the tennis for accessibility purposes instead. And so around maybe halfway through 2020, that idea started to gather a bit of momentum, and we were fortunate enough to get all our ducks in a row for the 2021 Australian Open, which was the Covid interrupted one. I'm not sure.

Yeah, it's an interesting story. It kind of came from our innovation team, because we had been talking with Akqa about doing some work around using the data to do something interesting. There's a whole program of things that go on here every summer, where we make data available to different companies to do interesting things, and some of those projects are accessibility projects. Some of them are just entertainment or sports science and things like that. In this instance, we were interested in doing something with the data, came along with some ideas, but our innovation director, Mark read, sort of recognised that some of the ideas that they were putting forward were they were about synchronizing sounds with the tennis to make entertainment for entertainment purposes. But Mark saw the possibility of maybe synchronizing sounds with the tennis for accessibility purposes instead. And so around maybe halfway through 2020, that idea started to gather a bit of momentum, and we were fortunate enough to get all our ducks in a row for the 2021 Australian Open, which was the Covid interrupted one. I'm not sure.

Yes, that's right, I remember it was. Yes. Yes. Was the one where yeah.

Yes, that's right, I remember it was. Yes. Yes. Was the one where yeah.

The precinct was split in two and there were several days in the middle of the tournament where we had no spectators. And during that heady time, we were able to get this product off the ground, and we broadcast it for three matches. That year we did the men's quad wheelchair final, which Dylan Alcott won, and we did the men's and women's singles final as well. So that was our first year of broadcasting, and it was a it was really sort of a spirit of innovation type project, like we didn't really know how we were going to do it when we rocked up on day one. You know, we were very fortunate that people like Vision Australia Radio and our friends at radio were able to lend us some gear and were willing to put things on air for us. And so that first year, it really sort of came together with a lot of people's passion and strong effort, and we've been we've been able to just build it year on year, do more tournaments, do more matches at our tournament and just make the product better. And yeah, here we are again 2025.

The precinct was split in two and there were several days in the middle of the tournament where we had no spectators. And during that heady time, we were able to get this product off the ground, and we broadcast it for three matches. That year we did the men's quad wheelchair final, which Dylan Alcott won, and we did the men's and women's singles final as well. So that was our first year of broadcasting, and it was a it was really sort of a spirit of innovation type project, like we didn't really know how we were going to do it when we rocked up on day one. You know, we were very fortunate that people like Vision Australia Radio and our friends at radio were able to lend us some gear and were willing to put things on air for us. And so that first year, it really sort of came together with a lot of people's passion and strong effort, and we've been we've been able to just build it year on year, do more tournaments, do more matches at our tournament and just make the product better. And yeah, here we are again 2025.

And we're.

And we're.

Hoping we can do it better and bigger and better again.

Hoping we can do it better and bigger and better again.

Fantastic. And Jared, I'm interested to hear about some of the advances and some of the progress that Action Audio has made over the past four years. What are some new things that you've been able to bring to listeners over that time?

Fantastic. And Jared, I'm interested to hear about some of the advances and some of the progress that Action Audio has made over the past four years. What are some new things that you've been able to bring to listeners over that time?

I think the.

I think the.

Main one is probably more coverage, aside from some technical things I can touch on in a second. I think we've been able to build the amount of matches that we've covered over the time, you know, starting with three matches in the first year, then something like 70 matches in the second year and then expanding to other tournaments. And so over that time, we've had to refine the way we produce the audio, and we've made the 3D field more expansive so that the rendering of the 3D audio is much better now than it was when we first started the team at Acacaea, who are Who are putting together the work for the MBA. They are generating that work, that audio in a game engine and synchronizing it with the video for delivery via the MBAs app. So that's really interesting. Using cutting edge video game technology to generate the audio is amazing. And for that sort of really rich sound environment of the MBA will be excellent. And then this year at the Australian Open, one of the things we've always wanted to do was to give fans an in-stadium experience. But over the four years we've been doing it, we've never been able to get the data quickly enough. So we've been working with our new data provider here at the Australian Open this year, and they've been able to offer us an extremely low latency data feed. So we're hopeful of trialling a real time live in-stadium experience throughout the Australian Open this year. And if any of your listeners want to get in touch and if they're going to be on site and they want to be part of that, we'd love to hear from them because, you know, we want to co-design. We want to. What's that saying?

Main one is probably more coverage, aside from some technical things I can touch on in a second. I think we've been able to build the amount of matches that we've covered over the time, you know, starting with three matches in the first year, then something like 70 matches in the second year and then expanding to other tournaments. And so over that time, we've had to refine the way we produce the audio, and we've made the 3D field more expansive so that the rendering of the 3D audio is much better now than it was when we first started the team at Acacaea, who are Who are putting together the work for the MBA. They are generating that work, that audio in a game engine and synchronizing it with the video for delivery via the MBAs app. So that's really interesting. Using cutting edge video game technology to generate the audio is amazing. And for that sort of really rich sound environment of the MBA will be excellent. And then this year at the Australian Open, one of the things we've always wanted to do was to give fans an in-stadium experience. But over the four years we've been doing it, we've never been able to get the data quickly enough. So we've been working with our new data provider here at the Australian Open this year, and they've been able to offer us an extremely low latency data feed. So we're hopeful of trialling a real time live in-stadium experience throughout the Australian Open this year. And if any of your listeners want to get in touch and if they're going to be on site and they want to be part of that, we'd love to hear from them because, you know, we want to co-design. We want to. What's that saying?

It's nothing about us without us.

It's nothing about us without us.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So I'd love to make sure that we co-design. You know, we went through a co-design process the first year when we did this, we based action audio on the game of blind tennis and used the sound cues from that game. And we worked with people from Blind Sports Victoria to do that. And I'd love to keep going with that, because we need to make sure that we're including people. So yeah, we want to try it and In-stadium experience this year and hopefully get some accessible audio into people's headphones, you know, within 100 milliseconds of it actually happening on the court. So I think that will be an incredible experience. Lots to do, lots of technical hurdles to jump to get that done. But we're not afraid of doing that. And um, yeah, if there's anyone who wants to come down and got some headphones and they want to sample that experience, we'd love to hear from you.

So I'd love to make sure that we co-design. You know, we went through a co-design process the first year when we did this, we based action audio on the game of blind tennis and used the sound cues from that game. And we worked with people from Blind Sports Victoria to do that. And I'd love to keep going with that, because we need to make sure that we're including people. So yeah, we want to try it and In-stadium experience this year and hopefully get some accessible audio into people's headphones, you know, within 100 milliseconds of it actually happening on the court. So I think that will be an incredible experience. Lots to do, lots of technical hurdles to jump to get that done. But we're not afraid of doing that. And um, yeah, if there's anyone who wants to come down and got some headphones and they want to sample that experience, we'd love to hear from you.

I'm really interested to hear about the challenges that you all faced when you're launching this thing in amongst Covid and, you know, all the, you know, logistical nightmares that came with that. Oh my.

I'm really interested to hear about the challenges that you all faced when you're launching this thing in amongst Covid and, you know, all the, you know, logistical nightmares that came with that. Oh my.

God, that was.

God, that was.

Yeah, it was some of the things when I think back on that time, I can't believe we got it done. And, you know, we were schlepping audio gear between the tournament precinct and a couple of we had to take all the gear home halfway through because it was a lockdown, and we took it all back. And getting access to things, getting access to people and spaces to get these things done. Yeah. When I think back on it, I really can't believe we did it, but we did. And that's because that's a lot of things that happen during that time. It's like you sort of made things happen. Yeah, I don't know, maybe the experience of Covid, maybe that helped us along. Maybe we were more determined to do something that no one had done before just to make it happen, despite there few barriers.

Yeah, it was some of the things when I think back on that time, I can't believe we got it done. And, you know, we were schlepping audio gear between the tournament precinct and a couple of we had to take all the gear home halfway through because it was a lockdown, and we took it all back. And getting access to things, getting access to people and spaces to get these things done. Yeah. When I think back on it, I really can't believe we did it, but we did. And that's because that's a lot of things that happen during that time. It's like you sort of made things happen. Yeah, I don't know, maybe the experience of Covid, maybe that helped us along. Maybe we were more determined to do something that no one had done before just to make it happen, despite there few barriers.

A lot of different motivating factors there. But of course, you've mentioned the importance of being able to work with other stations such as radio and especially Vision Australia radio over the time. So what's that collaboration been like, and what sort of form has that taken over the years, and how has that collaboration benefited both sides really over the time?

A lot of different motivating factors there. But of course, you've mentioned the importance of being able to work with other stations such as radio and especially Vision Australia radio over the time. So what's that collaboration been like, and what sort of form has that taken over the years, and how has that collaboration benefited both sides really over the time?

Hugely.

Hugely.

Oh, radio have been a really big part of this project because in that I mentioned in that first year they loaned us some hardware to get a part of the job done that we didn't know how to do. And I remember one of their texts coming across to our office during that tournament and just saying, oh yeah, this is what you need. I've got a spare one. And he brought it over and set it up and it was amazing. And they've just had this just kind of like unquestioned support of the project. We put action audio on top of their broadcast. So we're sort of messing with their beautiful work in some ways by putting our work on top of it. But they've really given us a lot of trust to do that. And the link to listen to Action audio sits right next to the link to listen to our radio on the website. So, you know, we're really appreciative that people are willing to push it forward. And Vision Australia Radio and our radio have had a super strong relationship for a long time. So the radio broadcast goes to air on our VA radio every summer.

Oh, radio have been a really big part of this project because in that I mentioned in that first year they loaned us some hardware to get a part of the job done that we didn't know how to do. And I remember one of their texts coming across to our office during that tournament and just saying, oh yeah, this is what you need. I've got a spare one. And he brought it over and set it up and it was amazing. And they've just had this just kind of like unquestioned support of the project. We put action audio on top of their broadcast. So we're sort of messing with their beautiful work in some ways by putting our work on top of it. But they've really given us a lot of trust to do that. And the link to listen to Action audio sits right next to the link to listen to our radio on the website. So, you know, we're really appreciative that people are willing to push it forward. And Vision Australia Radio and our radio have had a super strong relationship for a long time. So the radio broadcast goes to air on our VA radio every summer.

That's right.

That's right.

Yeah. In that first year, we actually put action audio on FM. We actually put Action Audio live to air on the women's final, I think. So that was that was also just that's just an incredible story really to Really to think is this like technology that just has never existed before? And someone's mentioned it, and people at Vision Australia Radio were prepared to trust that and put it on air. And I think that's support. We've had a lot of that kind of support over the time. It's heartwarming.

Yeah. In that first year, we actually put action audio on FM. We actually put Action Audio live to air on the women's final, I think. So that was that was also just that's just an incredible story really to Really to think is this like technology that just has never existed before? And someone's mentioned it, and people at Vision Australia Radio were prepared to trust that and put it on air. And I think that's support. We've had a lot of that kind of support over the time. It's heartwarming.

Really. It does provide such a, you know, vital service to people out there with blindness and low vision, as you've said, who, you know, big tennis fans, and they want to experience tennis in a way that wouldn't have been possible before. So that's, you know, very exciting in its own way. And that's something. Vision Australia Radio is really excited to bring to people. So it's great that we've had that partnership there and looking forward to seeing how that goes this year. Now, in regards to the ways that people can access audio, you've mentioned the link on the Australian Open website, the radio website, but what other ways can people access the action audio. For people out there who'd love to listen in and, um, follow the tennis that way.

Really. It does provide such a, you know, vital service to people out there with blindness and low vision, as you've said, who, you know, big tennis fans, and they want to experience tennis in a way that wouldn't have been possible before. So that's, you know, very exciting in its own way. And that's something. Vision Australia Radio is really excited to bring to people. So it's great that we've had that partnership there and looking forward to seeing how that goes this year. Now, in regards to the ways that people can access audio, you've mentioned the link on the Australian Open website, the radio website, but what other ways can people access the action audio. For people out there who'd love to listen in and, um, follow the tennis that way.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So the main way would be via the, our website and also the app. They both have a link to listen to the action audio. Um, and the third place would be Vision Australia Radio. Website is going to have a button to launch the player. I don't think we'll be going to air on FM this year, but like we've had that support to put our streaming link up on the Vision Australia Radio website as well. So really excited for that development.

So the main way would be via the, our website and also the app. They both have a link to listen to the action audio. Um, and the third place would be Vision Australia Radio. Website is going to have a button to launch the player. I don't think we'll be going to air on FM this year, but like we've had that support to put our streaming link up on the Vision Australia Radio website as well. So really excited for that development.

And, um, if people would like to find out a little bit more about Action Audio, where's the best place for them to head to perhaps?

And, um, if people would like to find out a little bit more about Action Audio, where's the best place for them to head to perhaps?

So there's action Dash Audio.com. That's where you can visit the home page of the product itself, and you can learn a bit more about how it works and what all the different sounds mean. That's a really important stick, actually, because it is really a language. It's a sound language. Um, and there are different sounds that mean different things. So it pays to do a little bit of research. So action audio Audio.com to read about the product and find out about some of the other initiatives, like some other initiatives with the project, we're doing some work with the NBA, for example, doing some work with other tennis federations and tournaments. And so you can learn learn about that stuff there. And also the Australian Open website ausopen.com. You can find there on the radio page. Find out a little bit about Action Audio there as well.

So there's action Dash Audio.com. That's where you can visit the home page of the product itself, and you can learn a bit more about how it works and what all the different sounds mean. That's a really important stick, actually, because it is really a language. It's a sound language. Um, and there are different sounds that mean different things. So it pays to do a little bit of research. So action audio Audio.com to read about the product and find out about some of the other initiatives, like some other initiatives with the project, we're doing some work with the NBA, for example, doing some work with other tennis federations and tournaments. And so you can learn learn about that stuff there. And also the Australian Open website ausopen.com. You can find there on the radio page. Find out a little bit about Action Audio there as well.

All right. Perfect. Well I've been speaking today with Gerard Mason from Tennis Australia here to chat to me all about action audio accompanying the 2025 Australian Open broadcast on both radio, the Australian Open app and of course, Vision Australia Radio. So make sure to tune in for all you tennis fans out there. Gerard, thank you so much for your time today. It was great to catch up with you and chat about Action Audio.

All right. Perfect. Well I've been speaking today with Gerard Mason from Tennis Australia here to chat to me all about action audio accompanying the 2025 Australian Open broadcast on both radio, the Australian Open app and of course, Vision Australia Radio. So make sure to tune in for all you tennis fans out there. Gerard, thank you so much for your time today. It was great to catch up with you and chat about Action Audio.

Thanks, Sam, I really.

Thanks, Sam, I really.

Appreciate your time. Thank you.

Appreciate your time. Thank you.

And that's all the time we have for today. You've been listening to Talking Vision. Talking vision is a Vision Australia radio production. Thanks to all involved with putting the show together every week. And remember, we love hearing from you. So please get in touch anytime on our email at Talking Vision at Vision Australia. Org. That's talking vision all one word at Vision australia.org. But until next week it's Sam Corley saying bye for now.

And that's all the time we have for today. You've been listening to Talking Vision. Talking vision is a Vision Australia radio production. Thanks to all involved with putting the show together every week. And remember, we love hearing from you. So please get in touch anytime on our email at Talking Vision at Vision Australia. Org. That's talking vision all one word at Vision australia.org. But until next week it's Sam Corley saying bye for now.

You can contact Vision Australia by phoning us anytime during business hours on one 384 7406. That's one 384 7486 or by visiting Vision Australia. That's Vision Australia. Org.

You can contact Vision Australia by phoning us anytime during business hours on one 384 7406. That's one 384 7486 or by visiting Vision Australia. That's Vision Australia. Org.