A belated gift for hearing impaired theater-goers

Martin Schram at mcclatchydc.com writes: This holiday season, the news media’s big eye has focused bigtime on whether Americans will be able to indulge their holiday movie-going tradition by enjoying just one film – a silly spoof about a CIA plot to kill North Korea’s dictator.

But this season I’m focusing on different reality-based truth for all who hope to enjoy entertainment in playhouses, concert halls and theaters.

Namely: How wonderful it is that millions of Americans with profound hearing loss can now go to at least some theaters and entertainment venues and hear, for the first time, the full surround sound that is happening on the screen or stage.

Finally – belatedly! – some movie theater chains are installing simple technology that has been working in Europe for more than three decades to make theaters accessible for persons with hearing loss problems.