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SOUTH JORDAN -- Special effects and pulsing soundtracks have made today's movie theater experience more entertaining than ever.
Now, the deaf and blind can enjoy them, too, thanks to new technology being put into some Utah movie theaters.
"I wasn't sure about this system at first," said Andy Rhodes, the general manager of the Megaplex 20 in South Jordan, "but once I found out about it, it's really a neat system. We're getting a lot of good feedback on it."
Headphones describe to a blind person what's happening on the screen, sort of like a book-on-tape.
For the deaf, a plastic device that fits in a cup holder can be placed at eye level. The device is one part of something called Rear Window Captioning.
On the back wall, an LED screen shows the words being said on the screen. A person can read those words by looking at the reflection on their device.
"I think it's great because we want everyone to be able to watch a movie," said Rhodes.
The Megaplex theaters in South Jordan and Ogden are two theaters which currently has the new technology. Other Utah movie theaters say they're looking into it and many already offer closed-captioning.
In order for the technology to work, theaters rely on movie production companies to supply them with a special disc which runs in tandem with the movie disc.
"The film studios have to release it to us," said Rhodes, "sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. It depends on the movie."
E-mail: acabrero@ksl.com
