Sony: eyeglasses with subtitles for the movies

The Digital Cinema division of Japanese multinational Sony has developed a prototype of eyeglasses that will display subtitles when watching a movie in the theater. The eyeglasses were created primarily to help spectators with hearing problems, but they could be used also with original-language movies with subtitles.

The eyeglasses are being developed especially for the UK (historically very sensitive to the needs of people with handicaps) and the solution also involves the BBC, which is interested in them for television applications. In addition to being an excellent solution for people who are hard of hearing, the eyeglasses could also be very useful in Italian movie theaters showing original-language movies.

Currently, many of them show movies with incorporated subtitles and this is fairly frustrating for people who understand the original language. The eyeglasses could help those who need subtitles, without spoiling the movie for others.

But Sony is already looking ahead and in the future these eyeglasses could include a simultaneous translation system. Sony forecasts that the eyeglasses will be available during 2012.