WatchWord glasses for Deaf cinema goers in Kent

An enterprising cinema in Kent has become the first in the South East to offer subtitle glasses to deaf and hard of hearing customers so they can better enjoy the cinema experience.

The Kavanagh in Herne Bay has two pairs of WatchWord glasses, wifi-enabled glasses which contain mini projectors in each arm that beam a film’s subtitles onto the lenses.

The cinema has been trialling the technology since last year and is confident filmgoers with hearing impairments can enjoy all current releases with this game-changing technology.

The £1,000 WatchWord glasses work with films which have closed captioned subtitles and users can customise their experience by choosing the colour, size and position for the captions as they appear on the glasses. The glasses are operated by a controller box that reads the film soundtrack in the projector room.

The glasses provide an unobtrusive, customisable and more flexible alternative to showing films with whole screen subtitles. People who are deaf or hard of hearing can see a film with friends or family whenever they like instead of having to wait for a showing with subtitles.

Initial feedback from users has been very positive and the Kavanagh is now hoping to buy more WatchWord glasses. Robert Johnson, the owner of the cinema, says, “If the major chains start buying these units then it will hopefully bring the purchase price down for all cinemas.”

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