Smart Glasses Come To Theatres For The Hard Of Hearing

In a welcome move the National Theatre in London is trialling out `Smart Glasses`. These glasses will enable the hard of hearing to read captions for the performances they are watching which is a very clever and innovative move.

In fact theatre goers who are experiencing hearing loss may find things a whole lot easier at certain theatres in London over the next few weeks and months as the charity Stagetext has been awarded funding by the City of London Corporation in a bid to make the theatre and arts more accessible to everyone, including the hard of hearing.

Initiative In Theatres, Museums & Galleries

The money given to Stagetext is going to be used in a variety of ways, for instance they will be using some of it to have captioning and subtitles available for those who need the service. Also theatre workers are going to be trained in improving access for anyone who experiences hearing difficulties. This initiative is going to be rolled out into many museums and galleries as well as theatres in a bid to encourage people who have hearing issues to attend and be included

.

If you are wondering how captions work, when an actor speaks on the stage the captions are shown on a special screen right next to the screen. This is an excellent initiative without a doubt.

Speaking to the Evening Standard Stagetext chief executive Melanie Sharpe said: "We want to make sure anyone can go to a theatre, a museum or a gallery and share in the same cultural experience as anyone else."

Various Types Of Smart Glasses

By the way there are various types of `smart glasses` out there at the moment and these are being updated and improved all the time. They are basically wearable computer glasses that gives the wearer information besides what they can see through them. A lot of them are hooked up to technology such as Bluetooth, GPS and WiFi.

It is good to see so many improvements being made in all areas of life to make things easier and more accessible for deaf people and other people with disabilities. There is a long way to go but progress is definitely being made! That is all for this week, in the meantime if you need to get your hearing checked out please give us a call and make an appointment in office hours on 028 9264 0302.