Using closed captions

[Tiam]

Gardenarian's deaf thread made me think about closed captions. I don't know if we've talked about it before, but does anyone else routinely use closed captions for tv or netflix or other? I don't watch a lot of tv, but it's often on. I usually have it muted and cc is on permanently. I find I really like watching shows with no sound, and enjoy the quiet. My grown children hate it and complain about it when they visit. I tell them they can turn it up but not to turn off the captions. I'm not deaf, but I find I'm having a harder time hearing and certain levels, high and low,are not audible to me anymore. I like using closed captions permanently. Anybody else?

[iris lilies]

Yes, always. Whenever subtitles are available, I use them. I've got a bit of hearing loss due to age, and I have a dog who is often barking in a back room, and then I often have a bulldog on my chest and he's a mouth breather. So between those things I sometimes can't hear regular dialog. It also allows me to keep the tv down at night when DH sleeps. He goes to bed earlier than I do, and the sound in our house carries.

Then, when it comes to English in dialects such as Yorkshire dialect or East London or urban the subtitles are essential.

I tried The Wire the first time without subtitles and stopped watching it because I couldn't understand what they were saying. Some years later, after seeing it in every Top 10 tv show list, I settled in to seriously watch it and I used the subtitles. The slangy speech of Baltimore's streets was too hard to master without translation. After that it was a learned skill, and while I still used subtitles all the way through the series, I gained a special fondness for that show that I had to work hard to "learn."

I recently watched a streaming video made in New Zealand and I was annoyed that my friend couldn't locate the subtitles button on her Netflix streaming device. Neither she or I could hear certain things and the accents made it worse.

But I still keep the sound on because it's important to hear actors' voices.

[libby]

It is impossible for me to watch television without closed captioning. I am thankful for modern technology!

[bUU]

My spouse is hearing impaired so if there are no captions or subtitles, it's not worth watching.

We avoid streaming because the enforcement of laws regarding captions is lax. The only DVDs we have subtitles trouble with are those for several Showtime series. For some reason, they don't have subtitles, but instead comply with the letter of the law by providing closed captions, but to see them you have to hook up your DVD player to your television a lesser way, and that dulls the sound for those of us who can hear.

[Miss Cellane]

Some Netflix streaming shows still do not have closed captions. It's a lot better than just a few years ago, but it's not perfect yet.

I use closed captions sometimes because I live just off a busy street, with big, noisy trucks trundling by, and police and fire sirens, and kids driving around with the stereo bass on high. And I always use it for BBC shows, so I can understand what the various actors with their various accents are saying. (BBC American ran some cute ads several years ago, advising viewers to use closed captions, due to the differences between British and American English.)

Also, I live in an apartment and try to keep the volume down so as not to disturb the other tenants, and closed captions can help there, too.

But the main reason I use closed captions is that the actors don't speak clearly anymore. I don't remember this as a kid in the 1960s, but these days, I'll be watching a show and be able to hear everything clearly, and then some actor will mumble a few words, usually key words in the dialogue, and I won't understand a syllable. If it's live TV, there's nothing I can do, but otherwise I have to turn up the volume and rewind a couple of times to make out what's been said. Closed captioning eliminates having to rewind so much. (At least, I only have to rewind once. I do a lot of crocheting when I watch TV, and I'm not always looking at the screen.)

I really wish they'd teach the actors to enunciate clearly.

[catherine]

Yes, my DH is losing his hearing and frequently relies on closed captioning. On occasion though, we've tried to turn it off (like if we're watching a football game and the stats are hidden by the CC), and we can't figure it out!! When we watch DVDs we ALWAYS turn the CC on, because, as he says, these days "all the actors mumble...you can't understand a word they say!" The days of theatrical-style acting are long gone, much to the detriment of the hard-of-hearing!

[AmeliaJane]

Oh, yes. Another closed caption user here. I dread it when I go over to someone's house and they suggest watching a movie together because I know I'll miss half the dialogue. I have been watching the show "Gilmore Girls" over the last year or so, which had a very fast dialogue style based on the old screwball movies of the 1920s and 1930s. I listened to an interesting interview with one of the creators. He mentioned how hard it was to cast the parts of the daughter's various teenage boyfriends because they had to find young male actors who could spit out all this dialogue clearly at high speed, and they are thin on the ground. Both the actors who played the grandparents on the show had a lot of theater experience which I have to imagine was an asset. And back to the closed captions--for some reason the DVDs and streaming versions of the 6th season had no captions. Argh!

[iris lilies]

Oh, yes. Another closed caption user here. I dread it when I go over to someone's house and they suggest watching a movie together because I know I'll miss half the dialogue. I have been watching the show "Gilmore Girls" over the last year or so, which had a very fast dialogue style based on the old screwball movies of the 1920s and 1930s. I listened to an interesting interview with one of the creators. He mentioned how hard it was to cast the parts of the daughter's various teenage boyfriends because they had to find young male actors who could spit out all this dialogue clearly at high speed, and they are thin on the ground. Both the actors who played the grandparents on the show had a lot of theater experience which I have to imagine was an asset. And back to the closed captions--for some reason the DVDs and streaming versions of the 6th season had no captions. Argh!

boy, that's interesting! I didn't know the reason behind fast talking on Gilmore Girls. I suppose the writer had to produce 10% more script each week than writers on other comedies.

[Spartana]

Another CC user here. I wear hearing aids since in my early 30s but still have to usevcc due to Serious hearing loss. I would probably use it even if that wasn't the case. Like to watch with sound off. Very happy that DVDs have it as l can't watch movies in a theatre

[libby]

Another CC user here. I wear hearing aids since in my early 30s but still have to usevcc due to Serious hearing loss. I would probably use it even if that wasn't the case. Like to watch with sound off. Very happy that DVDs have it as l can't watch movies in a theatre

Spartana I am sure many theatres offer a cc service. I have never used it myself. Has anyone else tried it?