Originally Posted by
TheOldMan
What are these 'special' headphones ?
They are able to allow the hearing aid user to turn the hearing aids to the T position which allows us to block out surrounding noise and lets us hear the music/dialogue directly in our ears. The problem is the headphones were effective with the old analogue hearing aids but I don't find it effective with the new digital aids. I am totally reliant on subtitles. Deafness is a complex disability - some use BSL sign language, some need subtitles, others have age-related deafness where these headphones will work. From what I hear of the new First headphones - they are painful after one film. If you have hearing aids AND the painful First headphones... well you can work that one out.
BA think they can tick the box that the 'special headphones' ticks all boxes for deaf people. it doesn't. If I have to watch something and there's no subtitles - I have to spend so much energy just trying to understand what is being said, that it ends up being a really stressful experience for me - this is what BA do not understand. It is the same for Audio Described which is what visually impaired people need in order to watch a film. I'm not sure how many films on the IFE have this but it's probably not as much as the captioned. Perhaps someone can put me right?