National Theater in London offers glasses with live subtitles

New York Times:

If you have hearing difficulties, the idea of spending hours watching a play may not be that attractive given the risk of key dialogue slipping from your grasp. The National Theater in London is hoping to change that.

On Wednesday, the theater introduced “smart caption glasses” that display dialogue on the lenses as actors speak. The glasses can be used without charge for the play “War Horse” and for the musical “Hadestown,” and they will be available for all of the theater’s 2019 season.

I went to an opera once and they had subtitles above the stage. While I really appreciated it, it was a bit distracting. The audience would “get the joke” before the singers had actually sung the lyric. While these glasses may be targeted at those with hearing difficulties, I can see it being a boon to a lot of different people attending productions.