With WatchWord Live, Temple becomes one of the first universities in the world to offer innovative captioning technology designed to give deaf and hard-of-hearing theatergoers greater freedom in how they experience live performances.

For theatergoers who are deaf or hard of hearing, attending a live performance can sometimes mean making a choice before the curtain even rises: Sit where the open captions are visible, attend one of the limited performances where open captioning is offered or miss the show altogether. 

At Temple University, a new technology is widening those choices. 

This fall, Temple will become one of the first universities in the world to use WatchWord Live, an innovative captioning technology designed to give deaf and hard-of-hearing theatergoers greater freedom in how they experience a live performance. 

Provided through a partnership with Temple’s Institute on Disabilities (IOD) and the College of Education and Human Development, the technology will debut at Temple Theaters during its production of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, running Sept. 24 through Oct. 4. 

“This is the first for Temple, but it’s also building off of the work that’s already been done in bringing this technology to the region,” said Jack Ouligian, assistant director of communication and dissemination at IOD. 

For Lisa A. Sonneborn, director of media arts and culture programs at IOD, the significance of the technology is less about the glasses themselves than what they make possible. 

“I want deaf and hard-of-hearing audience members to forget the technology and enjoy being part of the art-loving community,” Sonneborn said. “I want them to engage in the conversations that art inspires. I want them to feel connected.” 

Traditional open captioning has long made live theater more accessible, but the experience can still come with limitations. Captioning may only be offered during select performances, and captions are typically displayed on a screen positioned near the stage. For patrons who rely on them, that can dictate not only when they attend a production but where they sit once they arrive. 

WatchWord Live is designed to remove those constraints. 

Developed by the United Kingdom technology company Built For Good, the system uses smart glasses and software that listens to a live performance, matches the dialogue with a prepared caption script and sends the corresponding text over Wi-Fi to the glasses. 

The captions then appear within the wearer’s field of vision. Users can adjust the text size, color, brightness and placement based on their individual needs, allowing them to follow the action onstage without relying on a fixed caption screen. 

They can also sit wherever they choose alongside the people they came to the theater with. 

And unlike captioning that is limited to designated dates, WatchWord Live can be offered throughout a production’s run. IOD refers to that flexibility as “always-on access”—the ability for someone with hearing loss to attend any performance and sit anywhere in the theater. 

“People use captions very differently,” said Tabitha Allum, co-founder and chief operating officer at Built For Good. “Some people are using it to follow every single word, and other people are just using it to check words that they’re not sure that they heard correctly. It’s not really a one-size-fits-all thing.” 

Bringing that flexibility to Temple is the latest chapter in work IOD began more than a decade ago, when it started examining barriers that prevented people with disabilities from fully experiencing live theater and other cultural programming. 

In 2018, that work led IOD to smart glasses being used in the United Kingdom to deliver voice-following captions. The institute later became the first organization outside the U.K. to introduce the technology to audiences. 

That early effort has since expanded across Philadelphia’s theater community.  

Through partnerships with Built For Good, WatchWord Live is now offered by several prominent Philadelphia-area theaters, including People’s Light, the Arden Theatre Company and Hedgerow Theatre. Temple’s adoption brings the university into that growing network of regional arts organizations advancing accessibility and establishes Temple as one of the first universities in the world to use the technology. 

Sonneborn sees that connection to Philadelphia’s theater community as particularly meaningful, describing Temple Theaters’ participation as another way the university can connect with the “art-making and theater-making community in the Philadelphia region.” 

It also reflects a broader philosophy behind IOD’s work. 

The institute’s Media Arts and Culture program is rooted in what Sonneborn calls “cultural access”: ensuring that people with disabilities have meaningful opportunities to experience and participate in theater, live events and the arts. WatchWord Live is one part of that larger effort, which IOD carries out alongside community partners throughout the Philadelphia region. 

“One of the things I love about Temple is the diversity of its campus,” Sonneborn said. “Part of what makes that possible is the university’s commitment to access for all students, and particularly students with disabilities.” 

For Allum, exposing students to accessibility as part of their training could help change what audiences come to expect from theaters in the future. 

“There is so much incredible theater work that happens on university campuses right across the states,” Allum said. “It’s significant that Temple University has taken the decision to install this here so that the audiences that want to come and enjoy the shows created by the students or visiting companies can have access to every single performance.” 

For Ouligian, that is ultimately the standard the technology should help establish. 

“I want them to feel welcome,” he said. “Not in a tokenistic sense—not like, ‘Oh, we’re doing this special thing just for you’—but that this is the type of service that should be expected so people can access these cultural programs in ways that are best for them.”