by Philip Woodward, Systems Change Manager, NCCDD

Philip Woodward wearing caption glasses as he prepares to watch a movie in the theater.

For millions of people who are Deaf, Hard of Hearing or blind/low vision, going to the movies can be difficult to enjoy. Fortunately, technology steps in to help. This technology has evolved over the past 28 years. For example, some movie theaters chose to offer special showings where open captions would appear on the screen for everybody, including Deaf and Hard of Hearing individuals, to see. Likewise, these showings might also include audio description to describe the visual elements during pauses in the dialogue for individuals with vision loss.
Then, during the past ten to 15 years, some theaters started to offer MoPix rear-window captioning, in which the captions would project on a device with a small screen that would fit into a seat’s cup holder. The screen was adjustable to allow users adjust exactly where the captions would “float” on the screen.

Then, in 2013, Regal Cinema theaters started introducing caption glasses to 6,000 screens nationwide. These Sony Entertainment Access Glasses project the captions onto the glasses for the Deaf or Hard of Hearing user. The glasses also come with audio tracks that can boost the audio levels for Hard of Hearing people, and they can describe the visual elements on the screen for people with vision loss. Learn more about the glasses at: https://www.regmovies.com/theaters/sony-access-systems.

Randy Smith Jr., the chief administrative officer for Regal Cinemas, has a Deaf son and said he worked for more than a decade to find a solution to the problem of movie theater access and that it has been his goal since 1998 "to develop a technology that would allow accessibility to the deaf and blind for every show time, for every feature." Theatergoers can borrow a pair of Sony Entertainment Access Glasses for any showing they want to attend.

Despite the advances in technology, some Deaf and Hard of Hearing people still prefer closed captions on the screen itself instead of wearable technology, so open-captioned movie showings are not a thing of the past, and they are a great way for a theater to provide a reasonable accommodation for an interested group of Deaf and Hard of Hearing individuals. For example, there is a Facebook page called “Open Captions – OC Movies: Raleigh” that interested individuals can follow to stay updated on open-captioned movie showtimes in the Raleigh area.

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