Sony has unveiled plans to market glasses that provide subtitles for films in a move being welcomed by cinema fans that are hard of hearing. The ‘subtitle glasses’ should be available to UK cinema goers next year and will provide far more flexibility for audiences that suffer from deafness. Charlie Swinbourne, who is hard of hearing, tested the glasses in a short BBC film.
The BBC film notes that choice in cinemas is limited for those hard of hearing as subtitled movies are often shown in the day and mid-week.
Sony believes the glasses could take off outside of cinemas as well, suggesting uses including subtitled conversations. Furthermore, the glasses could potentially be used to transcribe conversations.
Last year InAVate reported on a similar concept that was developed by Danish designer, Mads Hindhede.
Hindhede envisaged coupling his device with a translation tool to allow real-time translation of a conversation.
Watch BBC film