"Aberystwyth Arts Centre Cinema has introduced new facilities to make films accessible to the deaf, hard of hearing, blind, and visually impaired. A number of the regularly scheduled films are now available with Audio Description and English Subtitles.

Aberystwyth Arts Centre cinema has installed new Audio Description, Audio Reinforcement, and Subtitling facilities funded by the Arts Council of Wales Capital Lottery Unit. This funding means that Aberystwyth Arts Centre is now able to provide an invaluable service which makes the cinema accessible to everyone.

Our new Audio Description and Subtitling facilities have been put in place to provide an opportunity for anyone who has been unable to make use of the cinema previously due to severe hearing difficulties or visual impairments.

These new facilities will also benefit a number of other people in the community who may have been anxious about visiting the cinema in the past. Our new facilities make for a more enjoyable and comfortable experience for anyone with minor hearing difficulties or visual impairments.

There are two key elements to these new facilities: Audio Description for the visually impaired, and Subtitles and Audio Reinforcement for those with hearing difficulties...

Audio Description & Audio Reinforcement

Blind or visually impaired people will now be able to hear a full description of the films, where audio description is available.

Audio description is provided for those with severe visual impairments; this is a full description of the film including a description of visual elements and dialogue.

A headset is collected from the Box Office by the customer, enabling the user to hear a description of the action and scenery of the film in between the dialogue, creating a better mental picture of the film. The headset is very easy to use and a member of staff will be happy to show the customer how to do so.

Audio Reinforcement is provided for those with hearing impairments; this is a personalised reinforcement of the film's normal soundtrack which will improve the user's ability to hear the film without affecting other members of the audience.

Subtitles

Each month we will be screening a number of films with English subtitles where the facility has been made available by the film distributor.

Soft subtitling is provided for those with severe hearing impairments. Subtitles appear on the screen, projected on top of the film image, via a dedicated data projector. This means all members of the audience will see the subtitles during screenings where subtitles are being shown.

We are currently unable to provide Subtitles and Audio Description/Audio Reinforcement with every film; the availability of this service is dependent on the film distributor.

Where subtitles are available, we schedule a number of subtitled screenings alongside regular screenings of a film. Where available, Audio Description/Audio Reinforcement can be used for all screenings as the headset is personal to the user and does not impact on other members of the audience.

To find out which films are available with Subtitles or Audio Description/Reinforcement, customers are advised to contact the friendly Box Office team on 01970 62 32 32 or artstaff@aber.ac.uk. Subtitled films are indicated on our website (listed on the right of this page) with the word 'subtitled' in the heading."

Article by Jodi Bennett