Many people who go to the movies take the ability to understand the story without subtitles for granted. Yet, there are thousands of individuals who suffer hearing loss that cannot enjoy the full effect of a movie without some form of aid. A new product has emerged on the market that allows you to view closed captioning directly through the glasses. This article will examine these devices as well as the areas in which they are becoming available.
Where Can They Be Found?
For the most part, these closed-captioning glasses can be found at limited screens at Regal Cinema Theaters where they are currently being tested for usability with a wide audience. There are no current plans to extend this to more theaters than the current 6,000 that will be available through the end of the summer season. Once data is analyzed, more information will be made known.
The Concept
Sony and Regal Cinemas worked on these glasses as part of a partnership. The glasses are known officially as Sony Entertainment Access Glasses, and were a major goal of Randy Smith, an administrative officer for Regal Cinemas. After many years of testing different designs, he believes that these glasses are the solution for the future.
Comfortable Designs
Access Glasses have an incredibly noteworthy design that can help people of all different body types. The oversized glass fittings can even be worn over another pair of glasses if you need them to be. The design itself looks remarkably similar to a large pair of glasses with detectors on either side of the frame so that they can process the movie, and are made so that they you do not feel bad by the end of the movie.
What Makes Them Work?
The best part about these glasses is that they offer several different ways of helping people with hearing impairment. Each pair can be adjusted for things such as lighting, brightness, and the user’s location within the movie theater. Most people have said that these glasses work best when the individual is sitting in the middle of the theater.
After the glasses have been configured by a worker at the cinema, the sensors on the sides of the glasses will pick up transmission data directly from another device mounted on the video player. Then, the glasses will display the floating captions that appear to be several meters in front of the user’s face, allowing them to watch the movie and read captions in real time.
