It’s Friday night, and my family and I are doing that rare pastime – communal viewing. We fire up the latest episode of ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’, and make sure we turn on the subtitles. No one in our household is hard of hearing. So why do we do this?
We are clearly not unique in our habits. In 2020, the UK Office of Communications released the results of a study which found that 18% of the population used captions regularly – but only 20% of viewers were hard of hearing.
Home subtitling has been around for almost fifty years – the first show to launch it was Julia Child’s “The French Chef”, in 1972. In the early days, the service was probably only of interest to viewers who had not heard, who soon a special device was needed to access it. Over time, caption technology has been built into televisions, and over the past decade, streaming services have brought more refinement of accessibility requirements. It did not take long before the broader application captions became clear.
Dr Richard Purcell, a British doctor and one of the founders of the caption company Caption.Ed, sees his company as a service for people “with and without hearing impairment to improve their interaction with media.” As he explains: ‘There is a lot of evidence to show that captions can improve the viewer’s understanding and retention of information for a wide range of participants. There is also evidence that captions can enhance the viewer’s ability to make inferences and define words. , identifying emotions from media sources. ‘
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It is therefore not surprising that viewers learning a new language can turn on the captions and integrate text with speech. It can also be helpful for children and adults to promote reading skills, making it an important tool for reaching the present moment. As actor comedian Stephen Fry said in a recent video ‘Turn on the Subtitles’, ‘the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has meant that some children have actually taken a step backwards in literacy,’ ‘he tells us,’ what a worry and a tragedy. ‘Reading TV watching is a painless way to try to move the needle. And by giving deeper contextual cues, captions can help other types of viewers as well.
“People with conditions such as autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit disorder and mild cognitive impairment can find higher levels of involvement and enjoyment by using captions,” says Dr. Puja Uppal from the Think Healthy podcast. Captions, she says, “provide an immersive experience that matches higher levels of enjoyment, satisfaction and retention.”
Accalia Baronets wrote in Medium in 2018 and set out the same issue from the perspective of such a viewer. “I do not understand body language at all,” she wrote. “It’s hard to concentrate on a show when there’s a lot of body language going on that I do not understand. I have ADHD. Captions help me focus on what I’m watching.”
Dr. Stephen Christman, a cognitive psychologist and professor of psychology at the University of Toledo, concedes that there is more superficial pleasure in captions. “When I watch sporting events, I sometimes turn on captions so I can listen to music while still following the action,” he says. “Another insignificant reason I also participated was to turn on captions just to enjoy all the incredible typos that appear.”
But he also notes the potential of captions for language learning, as well as other cognitive benefits. “We can read faster than we can talk,” he says. “With captions closed, the viewer can quickly read the current dialogue and then refocus on the visual action and use their knowledge of what is being said – and what is going to be said – to express their appreciation for the non-verbal / visual aspects. of what’s happening on screen. “
In my own house there are different reasons why we use the captions. My high school boy prefers a lower volume (and unfortunately for my middle-aged eyes, dimmer screen), so captions make an effective compromise. My family likes to comment on the action and talk straight about – and sometimes missing – key dialogue. We live in a city street that occasionally erupts with sirens, music and quarrels, and captions allow us to tune out whatever is screaming outside. We also appreciate the additional information captions can provide, such as the name of a song playing in the background, or the distinction between [applause] and [polite applause].
But in my household, the appeal of captions goes beyond keeping peace. Like Wired writer Jason Kehe, who did his own analysis of the boom in the captions of 2018, I honestly sometimes can’t understand what the people I watch are saying. Whether you’m a fan of ‘Batman’ movies from the Christopher Nolan era or English reality shows, sometimes you need a little help. The first time a friend recommended “Derry Girls” to me, she warned, “Turn on the captions. You’ll need them.” She was correct.
There is also value outside my four walls. As legions of travelers and users of public spaces know – or at least when they have traveled and used public spaces – it also makes it easier to enjoy personal entertainment without interfering with someone’s airspace. Maybe it’s not really the IMAX experience watching “Gladiator” on your phone in a crowded train with the captions, but it’s an unmistakably comfortable way to be entertained without bothering the person next to you.
There are restrictions for captions. It can really ruin an excellent punchline or suspenseful twist, making it unsuitable for anything that relies on surprise. It can be annoying if it is poorly executed and riddled with errors. But for many of us, it is a welcome improvement, regardless of our hearing ability.
Yet the caption I enjoy the most is the kind I may not yet have. I can’t wait to be in a crowded bar again on a weekend afternoon, with various sporting events broadcasting on either side of the room, and above the noise of the crowd, the reassuring flicker of descriptive words under the action.