Captioning Smartglasses for Live Theater

October 2018 - The National Theatre recently developed smart captioning software to be used in the Epson smart-glasses. These smart-glasses provide people who are hard of hearing with a projected, private, and personalized transcript of the on-stage dialogue. The technology behind these glasses is two-fold; the first element is the Open Access Smart Capture technology software and the second element is the Epson’s Moverio BT-350 smart-glasses hardware. The software keeps track of the pacing of the script, and the smart glasses display the dialogue. Most notable about the glasses is that it allows the user to set certain features before the show such as size, color, and position of the dialogue. Since The National Theatre launched them at all of their London venues, the hope is that this progressive technology will spread broadly to the entertainment industry. The captioning smartglasses are just the latest in accessibility accommodations provided to ensure the theatre experience is inclusive. Other National Theatre accommodations include an audio loop system, audio described performances, sign language interpreters, and pre-show tours. [Source: Paul Ridden, New Atlas]