'It's totally transformative': Cinema goers with hearing problems try out glasses with subtitles

Glasses with personalised subtitles have been described as a potential game-changer for people with hearing loss.

Watchword smart glasses are designed to be worn over normal glasses and alongside hearing aids and cochlear implant processors.

The captions appear on the glasses lens, rather than on the big screen, making it possible for the individual wearer to watch the film and read the captions using their own personalised device.

It gives people who rely on subtitles a far wider choice of films as they are not limited to certain showings.

David Hedges, who has been deaf since he was a child, now comes to the cinema with his son - but often has no idea what is happening.

"Especially if it's something animated," he said. "You can't lipread a cartoon."

He added: "With something like this I can come at 6pm on a Saturday evening, watch a film without it being restricted to me anymore, which is fantastic."

Fiona Blackburn, whose hearing has deteriorated with age, watches films with subtitles at home but struggles at the cinema.

She said: "I come often and not all the films are subtitled. It's totally transformative.

"You can get totally involved in the film - it's pure escapism."

The Alhambra cinema in Keswick, Cumbria, has purchased two pairs of the glasses - at a cost of £5,000 - which provide an 'on-demand' service for people who need them.

They were piloted in several UK cinemas earlier this year and the Alhambra is an early adopter of the technology.

Carol Rennie, the cinema's co-director, trialled the headsets a year ago and described the glasses as "gamechanging".

She said: "It shows that we're here for everybody. We're accessible for everyone.

"What is means is that people can come who otherwise would not have come. So it won't make a huge difference to audience numbers but what it means is we won't be excluding people."

The money to buy the glasses came from the family of avid cinema goer Geoffrey Hayes, who died this year.

A keen cinema goer, he enjoyed going to the Alhambra and was part of the Keswick Film Club but found deafness in later life increasingly isolating.

Chinty Turnbull, his daughter, said: "Towards the end of his life, he watched films with subtitles. But it was difficult still. So when he passed away recently I thought it would be nice to do something for him that he would appreciate.

"So we helped Carol buy these glasses, which are quite amazing and allow people with hearing difficulties to enjoy film like he would have liked to."

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