New audio guide will help ensure equal access to Exeter’s amazing museum

Published: 27 June 2023

Staff at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum (RAMM) are making sure all members of the community can enjoy the museum and its exhibitions.

RAMM has launched a new audio guide for those with visual impairment, made in collaboration with Living Options Devon and Sound Gallery Studios in Exeter.

The audio guide is designed for those with visual impairment, but can be used by anyone.

It lasts around an hour, and takes people through 16 treasures of the museum, all of which are marked with blue labels. There is one audio clip – lasting around two or three minutes – for each treasure.

RAMM disability champion Nikita Brown said: “We’re really excited to share this resource with our community.

“We reached out to Living Options Devon to use their expertise to help us write the script and suggest different audio devices to make sure it’s accessible to as many people as possible, and we made sure that we consulted someone with lived experiences of visual impairment. We hope lots of different people will make use of the audio guide to enhance their visitor experience at RAMM.”

The Museum houses significant and diverse collections in areas such as zoology, anthropology, fine art, local and overseas archaeology, and geology, as well as temporary exhibitions which change throughout the year.

Altogether the museum holds over one million objects, of which a small percentage is on permanent public display.