MediAccess: Accessible Audio and Multimedia Production for JAWS Users.

Record, Edit, Understand and Share Media with Greater Independence.

MediAccess gives blind people an accessible way to record, edit and work with audio, pictures and video using JAWS for Windows.

You may want to record one microphone, remove a mistake from an interview, combine speech with music or prepare a complete podcast. You may need to record the computer screen, check a screenshot, understand what appears in a video or create captions. MediAccess brings these activities into one keyboard-driven application.

The product can support a complete multimedia project, but you do not need to work with pictures or video in order to benefit from it. MediAccess is also a substantial audio recorder and editor in its own right. Someone who only wants to record and edit audio can use it for exactly that purpose.

Start Simply and Progress When You Are Ready.

MediAccess does not expect a new user to begin by understanding the language of a professional recording studio.

Choose a microphone, make a short test, record your voice and listen to the result. Open an existing audio file, find an unwanted sentence and remove it. Save a listening copy in the format you need.

That may be the complete task, and it is a perfectly valid use of the product.

When you want to do more, the additional tools are ready. You can record several sources, keep speakers on separate tracks, place music beneath speech, add chapter marks, prepare captions, work with screen video or ask questions about the visual content of a picture.

Record the Sources You Need.

MediAccess can record:

You choose only the sources needed for the current task. A voice recording may use one microphone. A software demonstration could include the screen, your microphone and sound from the computer. A podcast may use separate microphones connected to a supported audio interface.

A short test helps you confirm that the intended devices are being used and that the sound is clear before an important recording begins. When screen or webcam video is involved, the test can also help with matters such as picture selection and face position.

MediAccess can create a convenient combined recording while preserving separate source files. For example, you may have a ready-to-play mix together with independent microphone and computer-audio recordings. A beginner can use the combined result immediately, while a more experienced editor has the separate material needed to change the balance later.

Edit Audio Without Depending on a Visual Waveform.

Many audio editors assume that the user can see a waveform, point to part of it with a mouse and judge the recording from its visual shape. MediAccess provides an alternative based upon listening, time, named items and keyboard commands.

Play the recording and pause near a mistake. Move in smaller steps until you locate the required point. Mark the beginning and end of the passage, listen to what has been selected and preview how the remaining words will meet before making the deletion.

You can split a recording into items, give those items meaningful names, copy or move them, join them together and undo an edit which did not work as intended. Different movement feedback choices let you hear short pieces of real audio, receive the current time or continue playing as you move.

For quick changes to a single audio file, MediAccess offers an optional direct editing mode. For work which needs to remain editable, project mode protects the source and stores your decisions separately. You can return to the project and export a new finished copy whenever required.

Shape and Improve the Sound.

MediAccess includes tools for changing more than the order and length of a recording. You can:

Technical terms are explained when they become useful. The extensive User Guide connects each term with a practical task, so you can understand not only which control to use but why you may want to use it.

Create a Multitrack Production.

A multitrack project keeps different parts of a production separate while allowing them to play together on one shared clock.

You might place an introduction on one track, an interview on another and music on a third. Each can be named and adjusted independently. Mute temporarily removes a track from the mix. Solo lets you concentrate on selected tracks. Volume, stereo position and tone can be changed without permanently altering the other material.

Record a new contribution while listening to the existing project, import prerecorded material, replace one item without moving everything which follows, or move selected audio by an exact amount.

MediAccess can also lower background music while someone speaks and return it smoothly afterward. This process is often called ducking, but the practical result is simple: the speech remains clear while the music continues underneath it.

Keep Your Place and Help Listeners Navigate.

Bookmarks let you save personal positions in a file or project. Give a place a useful name such as Second Interview Answer or Music Begins, then return to that time without remembering a long numeric position. Bookmarks are private editing aids and are not placed in exported media.

Podcast chapter marks serve a different purpose. They can become part of the finished file so that compatible players offer named navigation points such as Introduction, Main Interview and Closing Information.

Prepare Finished Audio and Video Copies.

Saving a project keeps your editable decisions. Exporting creates the playable file which can be shared with other people.

MediAccess supports a range of audio and video formats. Practical explanations help you choose between a lossless WAV or FLAC file for further audio work and a smaller MP3 listening copy.

For MP4 video, publishing presets provide useful starting points without requiring you to understand every compression setting. Choose current MediAccess settings, a good-quality YouTube or general publishing copy, a smaller version for sharing, or a higher-quality copy for further editing. A preset prepares the file; it never uploads the video or selects a website.

Record and Review the Screen.

MediAccess can capture a complete display or a named application window. Add your microphone and computer sound to prepare a software demonstration, training lesson or explanation of a screen-reader task.

Choosing a named window helps prevent the wrong application from being recorded. A webcam can be placed over the main picture in a selected position and size. Test recording allows you to listen to the sound and obtain useful feedback before beginning the complete session.

Take Screenshots with Greater Confidence.

A screenshot may be needed to show an error message, application setting, online timetable, receipt or usability problem. The difficult part for a blind person is often not pressing the capture key. It is knowing whether the intended window was captured and whether the result is suitable to send.

MediAccess lets you select a display or application window through accessible controls. You can ask OpenAI to describe the result and then ask focused questions. Is all the text visible? Has a notification covered the important information? Is anything cut off at the edge?

Where appropriate, you can request a revised copy while preserving the original. Artificially revised pictures still need responsible checking, particularly when letters and numbers are important, but the workflow provides substantially more information and control.

Turn Speech into Text and Create Captions.

MediAccess can transcribe an audio or video recording. The transcription-service connection is included, so you do not need to create a separate account or enter a transcription API key.

Move through short sections of recognised speech, listen to the matching audio and correct words or speaker names. The corrected material can become an ordinary reading copy, a document containing timestamps, an editable caption project or subtitles.

Captioning involves more than recognising the words. Text may appear too early or too late, remain after a speaker has finished or cover an important part of the picture. MediAccess provides audible methods for checking timing and allows individual captions or the complete set to be adjusted.

Create an SRT subtitle file, an MP4 with optional captions or a video with captions drawn permanently into the picture. You can also combine an audio recording, one still image and captions to produce a video for a service which expects an MP4.

Understand and Check Visual Media.

MediAccess can describe a photograph, screenshot or representative moments from a video. Follow-up questions allow you to concentrate on the detail which matters, such as whether a person is centred, whether picture-in-picture covers a title or whether an unexpected notification is visible.

Local video analysis can identify measurable matters such as duration, picture size, frame rate, audio presence, decoding problems, large borders and sections which appear black or remain unchanged for a long time. These findings guide your review rather than automatically declaring that something is wrong.

Where suitable, MediAccess can create a cleaned or repaired copy while protecting the original. Representative pictures and automated checks cannot guarantee that every moment is perfect, so important work should still be reviewed before publication.

Create and Revise Pictures.

The optional image-creation process begins with the purpose of the picture, its audience and the details it should contain. MediAccess can suggest written ideas before anything is generated.

Choose an idea, create the image, read a description of the actual result, ask questions and request a specific change. Only when you are satisfied do you accept and name the picture. This staged approach can help when creating artwork for a podcast, document, presentation or video.

Convert Media into Another Format.

Convert supported audio, video and image files while preserving the source. A WAV recording can become an MP3 listening copy. A picture can be saved in a more suitable image format. An existing video can be converted for compatibility with another player or service.

The application explains the practical purpose of common formats rather than presenting unfamiliar extensions without context.

Designed Around JAWS and the Keyboard.

MediAccess works with JAWS for Windows and uses familiar Windows controls. Move with Tab, Shift+Tab and the Arrow keys, activate controls with Enter or Space, and use direct shortcuts for frequent tasks.

Guided mode provides additional spoken hints while you learn. Detailed help is available for the control which has focus, explaining what it does, when to use it, how to operate it and what to check afterward.

The searchable Command Centre helps you find an action without remembering its menu or shortcut. Type part of a command such as record, screenshot, fade or transcribe, review the matches and carry out the required action.

Local Work and Optional Online Services.

Recording, playback, editing, conversion and ordinary video checks run on your computer. The essential audio recording and editing features do not depend upon artificial intelligence or an online account.

Descriptions, image creation and some visual assistance use an OpenAI API connection and require your own API key with API billing. A ChatGPT subscription does not pay for API requests. If an OpenAI API key is already available through Leasey on the computer, MediAccess can use it; Leasey itself is not required.

Transcription uses a separate service connection included with MediAccess. No personal transcription key is required.

Accessible Auphonic is optional and is not included in the MediAccess installer. Download it separately if you wish to send selected audio to the Auphonic service. It requires an Auphonic account, its own API key and available processing credits or allowance.

Created from Lived Experience.

MediAccess has been produced by Hartgen Consultancy in association with Desiree Simione.

Desiree began using audio editors in 1998 and repeatedly encountered products which gave her less access and more frustration than sighted users experienced. Years later, a need to record a video demonstration for work prompted her to explore whether she could create something better.

The idea grew from an accessible capture tool into one place for recording, editing and understanding media. Today, Desiree uses MediAccess as her own audio editor, prepares captioned video, checks screenshots and gains greater access to visual creativity.

The product has therefore been shaped by lived experience rather than an abstract idea of what a blind media creator might need.

Who Is MediAccess For?

MediAccess may be particularly valuable to:

You do not have to use every part of MediAccess. Using it solely as an audio recorder and editor is a complete and worthwhile choice.

System Requirements.

MediAccess requires:

Comprehensive Documentation.

MediAccess includes an extensive User Guide written around practical, step-by-step examples. It begins with everyday tasks and explains technical ideas only when they become useful.

The documentation takes you from a first microphone recording through editing, multitrack production, screenshots, video, transcription, captions, image creation, conversion, online services, troubleshooting and keyboard commands. A complete worked example explains how to progress from a video project to checked captions.

Pricing and Availability.

MediAccess will be released in January 2027.

Until the end of 2026, MediAccess is available at the introductory price of £80 UK, approximately $107 US. Thereafter, the price will be £100 UK, approximately $133 US.

MediAccess will be updated on a regular basis. Upgrades will be free of charge until January 2028. It is likely that a lower upgrade cost will be applied at that time.

Pre-order MediAccess.

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MediAccess gives blind people a more direct route into work which has too often depended upon sight, inaccessible controls or uncertain results.

Begin with one microphone. Edit one mistake. Build a podcast. Record a demonstration. Check a screenshot. Prepare captions. Explore pictures and video when you are ready.

MediAccess: your recording, your project and far more control over the finished result.