LiveText support for theaters

Accessibility for the hearing impaired and international visitors

The LiveText glasses are smart glasses that converts spoken language into written text. The LiveText glasses are comparable to a speech-to-text interpreter, only the conversion is done by a computer.

With a LiveText glasses, the visitor wears a special pair of glasses where the spoken text appears instead of a tablet with a speech-to-text interpreter.
In this glasses, the user can 'pin' the text somewhere on the stage. This allows the user to easily see the stage and the written text at a glance, providing a more relaxed experience.

Next, the visitor can choose in which language the written text appears. The visitor has a choice of more than 200+ languages.

The LiveText set works with a special mobile phone and AR glasses. This headset does not have a camera and is therefore not comparable to the Meta AR headsets that have recently been in the news.
Finally, a lot of computing power is needed to enable transcription and translation. This runs entirely on a local Mac Studio or on a European server. See also LiveText for Theaters for more general information about the LiveText glasses.

Prior to the performance visitors will receive an introduction to a new technology: Augmented Reality glasses. Here visitors will receive information about the use of the LiveText glasses prior to the performance.

Communication with your audience

Ensure an attractive and simple explanation on your website, explaining how to purchase tickets if you want to use the LiveText glasses. Ensure an accessible ordering procedure where you sell from predetermined blocked seats.
Make it clear to other visitors that these are the seats offered for hard-of-hearing/international visitors. In our experience, they often order for the entire group, where not everyone uses the LiveText glasses. We therefore advise having visitors confirm how many LiveText glasses are needed.
Make sure the performance is easily findable for the target audience in your performance schedule.

For example:
"This performance is being made accessible for international and hard-of-hearing visitors. Visitors will have the opportunity to read along live with everything happening on stage."
The right tags, genre classification, or other filters are also important. Mention in all your regular marketing that LiveText glasses are available.
Provide as complete a representation as possible on your website of what is being offered.
For everyone, using the LiveText glasses is a new experience. Therefore, a prior explanation is super important. Communicate clearly that they need to arrive earlier to be present for the explanation.
It is more inclusive to communicate how the performance is made accessible rather than for which audience group it is intended. For example: "For this performance, support is available for hearing-impaired and international visitors."
Ensure that the front-of-house and box office staff are aware of the accessibility aids being offered and have knowledge about them, so they can answer any questions from potential visitors and refer them to the LiveText glasses and other accessibility aids.
Build an audience by reaching out to organizations for international and hard-of-hearing visitors. Think, for example, of international meeting places in your city or volunteer organizations.