[IL-Talk] Audio Description

Tue Jul 15 21:31:03 UTC 2025

I needed to turn up the volume on the headphones because the movie was loud. Under ideal circumstances the headphones should provide the audio for the movie and the audio description but I have found it not to be the case. The headphones I got had a three-way slide switch. The options were off, audio description, or movie sound. I find it hard to believe that the nosey woman would have heard the audio description considering how loud the movie was. We shouldn’t need to bring our own headphones just to enjoy a movie. I don’t even know what technology we could use to get audio description. I have heard of apps you can use to synchronize an audio description track with a running movie but that seems too complicated.

Dan

Dan

From: MaryAnne Lustgraaf <malustgraaf at gmail.com> 
Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2025 3:04 PM
To: NFB of Illinois Mailing List <il-talk at nfbnet.org>
Cc: dan.tevelde at comcast.net
Subject: Re: [IL-Talk] Audio Description

Good day all,

This is not to excuse the rudeness or lack of situational awareness of the woman. Her behavior is offensive.  However, I have recently been made aware of  a problem with  the old fashioned, inexpensive headphones that are used by theaters.

I have used the Audio Description headphones at movies only a couple of times because like many others I wait for movies to come to a streaming service I can access at home.

The last time I saw a movie the sound in the theater was so loud that it bled through the headphone sound I was listening to. So, I kept boosting the level of the sound in my headphones. My daughter politely informed me after the movie that she could hear my audio description because of the volume. since she listens to audio descriptions whenever she watches TV with me It was no big deal to her. 

It made me think that the next time I go  I will bring my own headphones that are higher quality and fit around my ears better. Unfortunately, the receiver they give you  is not Bluetooth enabled so I will need to have headphones that have a cord like the headphones. 

As an FYI about these receivers, they are the same ones that we used in 2005, 20 years ago at the theaters and auditoriums I managed at the Student Union building in NH where I  was the Director. There has got to be better tech out there now. But, I am afraid that we are such a small audience to theaters that they just stay with the old 'tried and true', rather than what is cutting edge.

Respectfully,

MaryAnne

On Tue, Jul 15, 2025 at 9:33 AM Dan TeVelde via IL-Talk <il-talk at nfbnet.org <mailto:il-talk at nfbnet.org> > wrote:

I'm glad I let Chris handle it. There may have been a visual thing going on which I wouldn't have understood. I didn't want to interrupt the movie just to make the incident a teaching moment for someone else. There are better ways to do that. Sometimes because we can't see it's hard to deal with something which happens in a split second. It was more important to me not to disturb other people just to teach a woman about etiquette.

Dan

-----Original Message-----
From: IL-Talk <il-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org <mailto:il-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org> > On Behalf Of Robert Hansen via IL-Talk
Sent: Monday, July 14, 2025 6:23 PM
To: NFB of Illinois Mailing List <il-talk at nfbnet.org <mailto:il-talk at nfbnet.org> >
Cc: Robert Hansen <hansen.robert70 at gmail.com <mailto:hansen.robert70 at gmail.com> >
Subject: Re: [IL-Talk] Audio Description

Yeah I don't know what the woman was up to. She could have just been complaining about anything. You know you were just sitting there minding your own business I'm assuming. Most likely being quiet like everybody else or most of the other people. She's probably like some busy body. You know somebody that has to nitpick at someone because they're different than her.
Most likely she's an unhappy human being that's miserable at herself. I wouldn't worry about it too much. I've had a couple of times where a woman would say or do things at me. I remember about two or three years ago I was on the 82 Kimball bus. I remember a couple of times I ran across the same person. And she tried tripping me because I wasn't sitting up in the front.
And she stuck her foot out each time and I saw the same person like in a two-week time frame. And I just had to chalk it up that this person is an unhappy human being. They're just miserable and they want to direct their misery onto someone that they figure is less than they are. At least that's what I think.

Robert Hansen
hansen.robert70 at gmail.com <mailto:hansen.robert70 at gmail.com> 

On Mon, Jul 14, 2025, 2:12 PM Dan TeVelde via IL-Talk <il-talk at nfbnet.org <mailto:il-talk at nfbnet.org> >
wrote:

> Hi all,
>
>
>
> Have any of you had an experience where you were using headphones in a 
> theater to get audio description and someone complained? I always ask 
> for them at our local theater, and the audio description usually works.
> Yesterday I had an experience which still mystifies me. Chris and I 
> went to the Superman movie. I was listening to the audio description 
> with headphones while listening to the movie. I was sitting completely 
> still and not bothering anyone. Chris was sitting on my right side and 
> there was a woman on my left side. During the movie I heard what 
> sounded like her talking on a phone and then I heard her talk with 
> Chris. All I could catch of the conversation was Chris telling her 
> that the headphones were for audio description. After we left, I asked 
> Chris why the woman was upset. Chris said the woman said I was being 
> disruptive. Why didn't she say something to me? Could she really hear 
> the audio description track? If anything, she was the disruptive 
> person and distracted me. I don't know what I would have said to the 
> woman. The whole experience leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I would 
> have tried being nice and missed the opportunity of educating the 
> woman about audio description and blindness etiquette. I don't think 
> Chris did anything wrong.
>
>
>
> Thanks,
>
> Dan
>
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