geekosystem

Netflix can be a pain for those that are unable to hear or have partial hearing loss. Their subtitles and closed captioning are haphazardly implemented throughout their Watch Instantly service. Some titles will feature robust settings while others have none at all. That's all set to change though. Thanks to the tireless efforts of the National Association for the Deaf, Netflix has agreed to provide closed captioning on all their Watch Instantly content by 2014.

When was the last time you saw an ad for a showing of a new movie release with subtitles? Probably never, unless you're actively looking for them. That might not be a big deal for you, but it's something deaf people struggle with all the time. The majority of people with adequate hearing dislike subtitled movies (I count myself in the minority), so theaters have a vested interest in not "ruining" prime time showings with them. As a result, if you're deaf, you have access to a handful of annoying alternatives like waiting for a DVD release or catching an awkwardly-timed showing.

Well, no longer, hopefully. Sony has been working on subtitle glasses that should allow deaf viewers to have their own personal subtitles without other viewers having to be distracted by them. While it seems like a pretty simple concept, the real trick is ensuring that the viewer doesn't constantly have to switch focus from the glasses, to the screen, to the glasses, to the screen. These glasses manage to provide the subtitles in such a way that they appear to be projected on the screen, in the same field of view as the action of the movie.