Culture from the comfort of your own home: audio tours for the blind are booming!

Culture from the comfort of your own home: audio tours for the blind are booming!

In times when access to cultural experiences is not always easy, there is a remarkable initiative that takes care of blind and visually impaired people. On June 15, 2025 the reports FLZ that free audio tours are offered for this group of people. These offers are generously supported by Aktion Mensch and the Hamburg Cultural Authority and make it possible for people like 61-year-old Gertrud Feld from Saarbrücken to experience various museum highlights from the comfort of their own home.

These tours, which not only open up new horizons for the participants but also represent real enrichment, cost around 200,000 euros. But the financing is only half secured - around 105,000 euros come from the mentioned financing, and the rest has to be raised through donations from private individuals, foundations and companies. The team behind the audio tours is hoping for a good hand at fundraising.

Diverse experiences from home

Gertrud Feld has already visited numerous remarkable places, such as the Helmut Schmidt House in Hamburg and the famous Museum Island in Berlin. She particularly appreciates the opportunity to enjoy cultural experiences over a cup of coffee. The specially trained guides ensure that the tours remain free of sensory overload. Corinna Fehrenbach, a museum guide from Cologne, emphasizes that she focuses on a few but important objects in order to explain them in detail.

Concentration during these tours is very important as there is no feedback from participants. Fehrenbach, who puts a lot of dedication into her work, has noticed that she often gesticulates more when talking on the phone, which can be a bit irritating for some people in the museum. Nevertheless, these tours are a sign that culture can be made accessible to everyone - and that's the goal, isn't it?

Use of modern technologies

In addition to these exciting tours, new digital approaches are also in demand. The museum can now benefit from the possibilities of the media landscape, especially through the use of YouTube. The website of the German Association of the Blind and Visually Impaired (DBSV) provides an overview of the cookies used, which are optimized for user-friendliness. Information about this is below DBSV to read.

At a time when technological advances are constantly advancing, it is particularly important to promote cultural participation. Commitment to accessibility in the cultural sector is not only a necessity, but also an important step towards an inclusive society. It remains to be hoped that more sponsors and supporters will jump on the bandwagon and strengthen the initiatives that enable people like Gertrud Feld to discover the world of culture up close - even from their sofa.