Lincoln Theater has recently upgraded its visual and audio assistance devices and invites members of the community to experiment with them and try them out at the theater on Wednesday, Jan. 16 during an open house between 10 a.m. and noon.  Using the new film, “At Eternity’s Gate” (PG-13), two try the equipment out, participants will be able to explore the two different headphone styles, and two different visual aids that may strengthen their theater going experience.

The two different headphones allow the wearer to choose what’s is best for them.  With individual channels, there is the choice of listening to either the movie's audio, or a narrative description of the action on screen.  There are also separate volume controls for left and right ears for those whose hearing differs between ears.  The second headphone option offers the ability to listen to both the movie's audio and a narrative description at the same time.  Volume controls allow the user to control/blend the amount of volume between the audio and narrative, while the volume level remains the same in both ears.

New visual assistance devices are also now available with captions, that is, text descriptions that display a movie's dialogue, identify speakers, and describe other relevant sounds that are otherwise inaccessible to people who are deaf or hard of hearing.  These “closed captions” are displayed on most movies using devices which the user requests. (This is different from the “open captions” are displayed on the movie screen for everyone to read, which the theater will continue to do when possible at Wednesday matinees.

The Lincoln Theater has two different visual assistance devices.   The first, an armrest-mounted display clamps onto the seat's armrest and has a flexible arm to position it in to the patron's field of vision.  The device privately displays the captions.  The second is  a pair of  glasses to display the captions.  Putting on these glasses, you look through the text and see the movie all in the same field of vision and the text appears where you are looking on screen.  The glasses are lightweight, with batteries that are worn as a necklace with a small wire connecting the two.  An up/down adjustment on the glasses controls where the text appears in your field of vision.

Lincoln Theater purchased these devices through the generosity of Herb and Roberta Watson, Steve Ferguson, Valerie Seaberg and The Elizabeth Ann Leach Charitable Trust.  For additional information call the theater at 563-3424. We hope you’ll join the staff of the theater on  Jan. 16 to try them out.