“Subtitle Glasses” Helping Deaf Movie Goers in Japan

From Jiji

June 10 2022

TOKYO – Glasses showing movie subtitles and texts describing scenes and sound effects on the lenses are helping the hard of hearing enjoy their time at the movies in Japan. 

“We hope that the glasses provide an opportunity for everyone to enjoy watching movies,” said official at nonprofit organization Media Access Support Center, which creates the subtitles and works to publicize the glasses.

The users of the glasses first need to download via a dedicated smartphone app data on the subtitles of the movie they are going to watch. They then connect the glasses to their smartphones.

A small microphone attachment picks up the movie sounds. Subtitles corresponding to the movie scene is projected onto the lenses of the glasses.

The Tokyo-based NPO launched a project to lend the subtitle glasses to movie theaters around Japan in January 2020. The glasses are available at 85 movie theaters.