Sony’s Subtitle Glasses Mean the Deaf Can Watch Movies in the Theater Too

DeafBadger said:
Well, it does have the limitation of ticking off most of their (hearing) customers who might not come back to spend money. They are likely afraid of losing business, so they are not going to open caption if it means that hearing people don't come back.
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This sort of argument doesn't really hold water if they have never done it in the past. Can you think of any theatres where all of the movies were open captioned in all showings? Did they ever do this? They cannot use this argument if it they haven't conducted a study to find the results.

Besides, you know what's ironic about the argument? The fact that the majority of closed captioning users are hearing. Just go in any sports bars, you'll see that a lot of their TVs are closed captioned, it's the same with gyms. You don't see people throwing a fit over a football game being closed captioned.
 
We have Open Captioning (OC), Rear Window Captioning (RWC), CV (CaptView) and now this subtitle glasses. It's like a glass bottle of soda. It tastes better than drinking it out of a aluminium can or plastic bottle. The old way is still the best.
 
Banjo said:
We have Open Captioning (OC), Rear Window Captioning (RWC), CV (CaptView) and now this subtitle glasses. It's like a glass bottle of soda. It tastes better than drinking it out of a aluminium can or plastic bottle. The old way is still the best.
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I've never used any of these captioning methods in the theater. I live in a a semi-rural area, so.. I guess I've just learned to live without it.

From a logical point of view, you have a point. It is not a logical argument to make to say that open captioning every movie might turn off most hearing customers to the point that the theaters close their doors.

What I'm trying to point out is what they (the theaters) are probably thinking. They are business owners, and most (perhaps 98%?) of their customers are going to be hearies. They are probably afraid of killing their business.

Still, this can be tested. A theater could designate one "movie room" as open-caption only and show several different movies there. Then they could advertise that and see how much business they get for that room. They would probably get a mix of of hearing and deaf. Would it be enough to sustain the theater? One room can be measured, while they don't risk the revenue from the other rooms while they are testing this.
 
DeafBadger said:
I've never used any of these captioning methods in the theater. I live in a a semi-rural area, so.. I guess I've just learned to live without it.

From a logical point of view, you have a point. It is not a logical argument to make to say that open captioning every movie might turn off most hearing customers to the point that the theaters close their doors.

What I'm trying to point out is what they (the theaters) are probably thinking. They are business owners, and most (perhaps 98%?) of their customers are going to be hearies. They are probably afraid of killing their business.

Still, this can be tested. A theater could designate one "movie room" as open-caption only and show several different movies there. Then they could advertise that and see how much business they get for that room. They would probably get a mix of of hearing and deaf. Would it be enough to sustain the theater? One room can be measured, while they don't risk the revenue from the other rooms while they are testing this.
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One flaw, they still can choose to go to one that doesn't have open caption. In order to fully test that, they would need to make all of them OC for few weeks and see how they react.
 
I think they are assuming that they would lose business if they run it on captioning on the screen. Why don't they try doing an experiment and see the before and after results, loss or no change in attraction. Sometimes people assume things wrong.
 
sequoias said:
I think they are assuming that they would lose business if they run it on captioning on the screen. Why don't they try doing an experiment and see the before and after results, loss or no change in attraction. Sometimes people assume things wrong.
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Bingo. We won't know what would happen until they do it on a nationwide scale at the same time. Say, during the Hearing Awareness Month and see what happens.
 
Banjo said:
Bingo. We won't know what would happen until they do it on a nationwide scale at the same time. Say, during the Hearing Awareness Month and see what happens.
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Yeah, agreed. I would like that kind of experiment. It doesn't hurt to try to see the actual results. No one can read their minds, you know. Like for example, Apple thought that iPad wouldn't be successful. Bam, it was successful and exceed their expections. I think it has to do with their past experience with the Newton palm device from the 90's that was not successful.
 
Banjo said:
The cheapest solution is to make the movies open captioned. But noooo, they have to invest millions and millions in devices so they won't annoy the rest of the world.
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I know it not going to kill hearing people to watch a movie with CC for 2 hours or more! People go to foreign movies that have subtitles , what is the difference between people using subtitles to understand what being said and deaf and hoh people using CC to do the same!! That is doubt standard to me!
 
whatdidyousay! said:
I know it not going to kill hearing people to watch a movie with CC for 2 hours or more! People go to foreign movies that have subtitles , what is the difference between people using subtitles to understand what being said and deaf and hoh people using CC to do the same!! That is doubt standard to me!
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Agreed. I saw hearing people watch foreign movies with English subtitles on it and they didn't complain about it.
 
sequoias said:
Agreed. I saw hearing people watch foreign movies with English subtitles on it and they didn't complain about it.
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And people will pay a lot of money to see a good foreign movie that they have to read!
And having to wearing special glasses will mean everyone know you're HOH or deaf
and some people do not want other people know that.
 
DeafBadger said:
I've never used any of these captioning methods in the theater. I live in a a semi-rural area, so.. I guess I've just learned to live without it.

From a logical point of view, you have a point. It is not a logical argument to make to say that open captioning every movie might turn off most hearing customers to the point that the theaters close their doors.

What I'm trying to point out is what they (the theaters) are probably thinking. They are business owners, and most (perhaps 98%?) of their customers are going to be hearies. They are probably afraid of killing their business.

Still, this can be tested. A theater could designate one "movie room" as open-caption only and show several different movies there. Then they could advertise that and see how much business they get for that room. They would probably get a mix of of hearing and deaf. Would it be enough to sustain the theater? One room can be measured, while they don't risk the revenue from the other rooms while they are testing this.
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Okay...here is where your argument looses steam. Theaters are providing a service to the public. They are mandated under Federal law to make that service available to ALL. If hearing people can take advantage of the service, then they are madated to insure that the Deaf can as well. If people who can walk into the theater can take advantage of the services, then people who use wheelchairs must be granted access as well. The only reason that they don't have consistent captioning is because no one has bother to invoke the law. This isn't about what is most convenient for the theater owner or what might annoy the hearies. It is about equal access. Allowing someone to purchase a ticket and enter the theater is not equal access. They must be provided the means to take advantage of the service once they have been admitted.
 
Oh, yeah, OC is the best way for many of us. However I would like to try the new glasses to see how I like it. Are they for sale or free when available? If they are for sale, would IRS allow them to be a tax write-off as a medical expense? Can they be used anywhere or only where subtitles are available?
 
I do wish they would put captions on movies in the theatre. I have gone to an opera once and it had subtitles and I enjoyed it SO much more than any musical or play I've ever gone to before. I knew what was going on!

I wonder how long until they come up with a voice recognition device that would use a microphone to pick up speech and then make that into captions? I would use that for sure. Or do they already have that with the Dragon Speaking on the iPods? Maybe a little better technology is needed for it to recognize multiple speakers (as you usually have to "train" the computer to understand your own voice).
 
I do wish they would put captions on movies in the theatre. I have gone to an opera once and it had subtitles and I enjoyed it SO much more than any musical or play I've ever gone to before. I knew what was going on!

I wonder how long until they come up with a voice recognition device that would use a microphone to pick up speech and then make that into captions? I would use that for sure. Or do they already have that with the Dragon Speaking on the iPods? Maybe a little better technology is needed for it to recognize multiple speakers (as you usually have to "train" the computer to understand your own voice).
 
Banjo said:
:lol: Thankfully I stopped paying at the snack bar years ago. Either I got them for free or smuggled them in.
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I tried that once and I was not allowed to bring my food in! I did get away with bringing my food other times. I stopped going to movies,I refused to pay $12 to go to a movie and not be able know what is being said!!
 
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