Film: National Cinema app test with Abominable

The National Council for the Blind of Ireland (NCBI) have kicked-off a national test with the Earcatch app starting from 12th October running in every cinema in Ireland for the film Abominable.

The Earcatch app (available for free in the App Store and Google Play) enables cinema visitors who are blind and vision impaired to use audio description with the use of their own smartphone when they are in the cinema. Audio description provides a verbal description in between dialogues, enabling the viewers to follow what’s happening on screen.

The trial will feature the audio description for the film Abominable and will run for 4 weeks starting from 12th October until 8th November 2019.

During this period people can use the Earcatch app in any cinema in Ireland, for every screening of Abominable film.

How it works:

To use Earcatch, the viewer simply needs a smartphone/tablet and a headset. The audio description track for a film can be downloaded in advance of the screening. During the screening no internet connection is needed. As soon as the screening starts, visitor only need to press play in the app and enjoy the show. Within a few seconds Earcatch knows exactly which part of the film you are watching and it will start playing the corresponding audio description automatically over your headphones. The screen will go dark automatically so it won’t interrupt other visitors.