For the deaf and hard-of-hearing community, it can be difficult to enjoy the movie going experience. Few theaters provide on-screen captions for fear of it distracting the general population, and while new methods of accessibility are emerging (see Rear Window® captioning), finding a theater and showtimes to take advantage of this can be cumbersome.
Not anymore with Captionfish. The free app by DeafCode LLC is slick and simple, using your GPS location to find the closest theaters and showtimes with deaf-accessible movie showings. It also provides trailers of upcoming movies with closed captions (although they acknowledge some users are having trouble accessing this feature and they are working toward a solution)…
When you open the app the menu is at the top with five graphic-only icons and your location underneath:
Showtimes
Check out which movies are playing where and at what times, all in one screen. The app also lists what kind of accessibility is provided, whether on-screen captions (OC), or Rear Window® captions (RW). It even tells you how far the theater is from your current location. The only drawback is it will only list showings for the current date, so you can’t plan ahead for that Friday night date.
Theaters
Get a list of your local theaters, complete with address and phone number. This list includes ALL local theaters, whether it has deaf-accessible showings or not.
Trailers
Swipe through the movie posters of current or upcoming movies and watch the trailer with closed captions. I am one of the unlucky few that can’t use this feature. Hopefully an update will remedy the problem.
About Captionfish
Learn more about Captionfish. This mentions their site, www.captionfish.com, but doesn’t link to it.
Update Location
Have the app update your location so it can refresh your local listings.
Overall, I am really impressed with the app and Captionfish as a search engine. It’s nice to see greater accessibility provided for the deaf/hard-of-hearing community, and there’s exciting changes coming for them with online videos and television, too. You might think you won’t need an app like this, but with the prevalence of iPod headphones potentially damaging hearing at an earlier age, we all may be needing this app sooner than we think!
Can you or someone you know benefit from this app? I am hearing impaired and wear hearing aids, so I don’t usually see movies with captions, but I like knowing it’s easy to find a theater to do so now. (I did see Inception a second time with Rear Window® captioning so I wouldn’t miss a word). Any movies you think would’ve been more enjoyable with captions?