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As the lights dim, a low rumble can be heard advancing from the front of the theater to the back as the powerful bass speakers kick on. Theaters tune their sound systems to be physically felt by theatergoers to draw them into the experience, but for individuals with hearing loss this can be more alienating than inclusive.
For Dallas Summer Musicals ( http://www.dallassummermusicals.org ), this meant creating a new listening experience with some innovative thinking and an unusual combination of theater technicians, electrical engineers and two UT Dallas audiologists. Drs. Carol Cokely and Linda Thibodeau of the Callier Center for Communication Disorders collaborated with DSM to create the Hear Us Now program, which uses five different technologies to provide a wide range of options for accessing the theater's sound system outside of its normal speakers. Most theaters offer one point of access for those with hearing impairments via a headset.
"A longtime season-ticket holder said to me, 'You know I've been coming here for years, and I get the standard headset and I really can't understand much on them. I look around and when it's time to clap, I clap, and if I see people laughing, I laugh.' It really helped make me aware of the plight of those with severe hearing impairments," said Barry Epstein, a DSM executive board member and electrical engineer in charge of the Hear Us Now program.
http://phys.org/news/2015-01-audiologists-stage-theater.html
[Source]: http://www.utdallas.edu/news/2015/1/16-31343_Audiologists-Help-Set-the-Stage-for-Better-Theater_story-wide.html
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 17 2015, @05:50PM
Think of a jet engine screeching at 100% in both ears, no cure, no treatment. The only time I had relief was under hypnotism for something else, and that relief only lasted a few seconds.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 18 2015, @11:06PM
I think I have had mild tinnitus for a long time but it's hard to tell. Is there such a thing as silence?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Nerdfest on Saturday January 17 2015, @08:12PM
This is going to become very important over the next ten to twenty years. It seems the way many of us baby boomers and those that came after us treated our ears very poorly and are starting to pay for it.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 17 2015, @09:58PM
I'm deaf and I was hoh for years. This is just wankery. Almost nothing helps people who have severe or higher hearing loss other than an implant. You can play with frequencies all you want but most filtering makes things worse, not better.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 18 2015, @01:08PM
The sound is always too loud. For some movies worse than a rock concert. They must be causing massive permanent damage yet nothing is done.
I walked out of Hoyts years ago to see a man with a sign saying IF YOUR EARS ARE RINGING THEN YOUR HEARING IS DAMAGED
They arrested him.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Monday January 19 2015, @01:14PM
... Theaters ... for individuals with hearing loss ...
I donno if I'm hearing the point. Like the time 4chan rigged the online voting sending taylor swift's next concert to a school for the deaf. Which is probably the best way to enjoy her.
I have bad taste in sculpture, it would be like trying to smear a thin layer of techno-utopianism on by providing a google glass app so I can "really appreciate" sculpture. My solution to lacking the sense of good art is to avoid going to sculpture art museums, its naturally very low on my list of priorities. Then again if the only sculpture I like is erotic statuary, then maybe everyone else has bad taste in sculpture.