Frost/Nixon

Artlink Report

Venue: Cinema 1, The Playhouse, Lothian ROad, Edinburgh

Event: Subtitled Screening of "Frost/Nixon"

Date: 25 Jan 2009 (Sunday)

Review: Accessibility for deaf/hard of hearing (subtitles and infra-red headphones)

Reviewer's comments:

Background:

This was the first time I had been in the cinema for about five years, and probably only the second time in 10 years. I used to be a regular and enthusiastic cinema goer, but progressive deafness meant that I was less and less able to follow the dialogue, so I enjoyed films less and less, and more or less stopped going to the cinema about 12 years ago. At that point I was using good hearing aids which worked well for normal conversation, but didn't work well in the cinema or with TV. I started using infra-red headphones to watch TV at least 10 years ago, and found them to be very good at home, but they were rarely available in cinemas then, and also didn't seem to work as well.

I had a cochlear implant operation early in 2008 and have made good progress with it. I can now hear very well if there is no background noise, but still prefer to use a direct audio input when watching TV as the sound quality is noticeably better. I use an FM transmitter/receiver set-up made by Phonak, which is very good quality but quite expensive. I don't use loop systems that much, partly because I think they are often badly set-up, or possibly because i just don't really get on with them.

The Filmhouse uses a Sennheiser Infra-Red system to transmit the soundtrack and supplies customes with headphones or a neckloop reciever on request. I asked to see what was available and the counter staff were very helpful, showing me both types of receiver and describing how to use them. The receivers have rechargeable batteries and should of course be fully charged and ready for use when you collect them. Unfortunately, unlkie mot makes of infra-red receiver, Sennheiser receivers don't have an LED "On" indicator which is very useful to tell you if the device is on and also gives a good indication of whether the battery is runnning flat.

The headphones are the stethoscope type with soft rubber earpieces which I've tried at home in the past and I know they have very good sound quality and are quite comfortable to wear. They are a little heavy to ear for longer periods and might become uncomfortable if you were using them for several hours (e.g. watching a double-bill), but they should be fine for a normal film. The neckloop reciever looks similar, but hangs round the neck on a cord, with a separate plug-in neckloop. I can't really use normal headphones any more, but I think the headphones would be very good for people with a hearing loss that is moderate or worse. The volume level in the cinema was probably high enough for people with a mild heading loss to get by without using the headphones.

I took a neckloop receiver into the cinema and tried using it but had various problems, mostly to do with the set-up of my cochlear implant, rather than problems with the neckloop. The normal practice with loop systems is that when you switch your hearing aid to the "T" (telecoil) position, the loop receiver is activated and the microphone is turned off. This means that the hearing aid is only transmitting sound from the loop and any distracting external sounds are cut out altogether. I don't like this and have my cochlear implant set up so that the microphone still works when the loop is on. This means that I can hear on the telephone and also hear what someone in the same room is saying without having to constantly switch between normal and telecoil settings.

In the Filmhouse, my loop set-up meant that I wasn't really able to tell whether the sound was coming via the microphone or the loop. To add to the confusion, I had previously had one program on my cochlear inmplant set so that it cut the microphone input when the loop was on, but I couldn't remember which of the 4 programs it was. So I ran though several combinations several times to try to find the working combination while the adverts anmd trailers were on, without success. I was sure I couldn't hear anything through the loop, so assumed that the battery was flat and asked for a replacement, which had the same problems. Eventually, I found that the loop is not turned on during the adverts and trailers, only for the main film, which seems a mistake. It's much better to investigage and settle on the best settings before the main film is screened.

It's worth noting that setting the telecoil and volume is much more fiddly on a cochlear implant than it is on a traditional hearing aid. Also, most people will who use the loop setting regularly (which I don't) would have less trouble with the set-up than I did, and anyone who visited the cinema more than once would get it right on the second visit if they didn't manage it on the first. On the other hand, anyone who had as much trouble as I did, might not go back for a second time. It would be much better if the loop system was turned on during the adverts and trailers as this would serve as a sound check. It would also be better if there was a visual indicator of battery life on the receiver. Most infra-red headphones have a small LED indicator to show if the battery is flat, but Sennheiser is fairly unusual in not having one. It's also worth noting that infra-red transmitters and receivers generally seem to be interchageable between manufacturers. Some people will be used to wearing their own headphones at home and there's no reason why they couldn't bring them into the cinema to use. The earplugs on the Filmhouse's headphones are easy to clean, but soem people might be put off using them for hygene reasons.

The neckloop receivers have a separate loop which plugs into a socket in the receiver. I wondered if the plug would also work with any standard set of headphones, and the Filmhouse confirmed afterwards that it would work. Most NHS hearing aids and cochlear implants have a tiny socket which allows a headphone type lead (called a DAI or "Direct Audio Input" lead) to be plugged into devices like iPods. Instead of listening though headphones or with a loop, the sound is transmitted directly to the hearing aid without any distortion or interference. Few people seem to use this feature as it usually needs an additional adapter for called a DAI Shoe. The leads and shoes are not usually standard NHS issue, althought they should be as they are very cost-effective at improving sound quality.. The improvement can make the difference between hearing with difficulty and hearing clearly without effort. It seems that the Sennheiser neckloop receivers at the Filmhouse would work well with a DAI lead, but the cinema staff don't seem to be aware that the option exists.

Finally, I would have preferred to use my FM receiver to hear as it works very well and I use it every day, so there would have been no fiddling around setting it up. I realise that cinemas like the Filmhouse can't install every type of assistive devide, but I think that FM systems are becoming the norm in schools and colleges, and so many younger hearing aid and cochlear implant users will be used to FM systems and also will already have the necessary receivers. It seems a pity that FM transmitters aren't installed alongside the Infra-Red transmitters, as I think it would be a popular choice.

In spite of having teething problems getting the infra-red reciever to work with my cochlear implant, this was a very enjoyable visit to the cinema. The film itself was very good, dramatic, well-acted, tense and often quite funny, with some very good period detail. The subtitling was excellent - well synchonised, unobtrusive yet easy to read.