Cross-Sensory Translation

The process of converting information from one sensory modality to another — for example, representing visual information through touch, sound, smell, or taste. In exhibition accessibility, cross-sensory translation is used to make visual artworks accessible to blind and low vision visitors through tactile replicas, audio descriptions, sonification, scent, temperature, and other non-visual means. A key challenge is determining the appropriate degree of transformation: too little translation may leave the work inaccessible, while too much may strip away the essential qualities of the original. Curators and accessibility researchers debate whether cross-sensory experiences can be truly equivalent to visual perception, particularly for abstract concepts like color, spatial composition, and artistic style.