The Voice That Makes a Difference

The voice that makes a difference uses Total Communication, which is the complete interactive experience combining sign language, subtitles, sound and audio description to enable the deaf, hard of hearing (D/deaf) and disabled people to access the cinema. Films are shown with a deaf person simultaneously signing which together with the subtitles, sound and audio description ensures Total Communication. Our aim is to ensure that no matter how much or how little hearing a child or adult has they will all be able to understand the film they choose to see. One of our targets is to ensure that subtitled films become part of the main cinema programme ensuring equal access to the cinema for all and thereby increasing audience figures.

We, like the government want the citizens, communities and local government to have the power and information they need to come together, solve the problems they face and build the community they want. Only when people, communities and business are given more power and take more responsibility can we achieve fairness and opportunity for all. For example, access to the cinema for everyone and therefore larger audiences and more profit for the cinema and the film industry.

There are a lot of National Statistics from government, charities, universities and mental Health Boards etc. that show that in the UK 1 in 6 people have some form of hearing loss and over the next 20 years this number will rise to 1 in 3. Two reasons are given for this rise:

1) We are becoming an older population, research by the RNID has shown that over 42% of people over 50 have some form of hearing loss.

2) 300,000 people in the UK have had Noise Induced Hearing Loss.