How captions add value

Closed Captions are subtitles that not only display the dialogue of the TV program or film, but provide additional or interpretive information. This additional information typically includes speaker IDs, sound effects and musical cues.

Closed Captions are generally used by the deaf or hard-of-hearing, but are also often used when the audio is not available or not clearly audible, for example, when the audio is muted in a bar or restaurant.

They are also used as a tool by those learning to read or speak a new language. For example, in the United Kingdom, of 7.5 million people using TV subtitles (closed captioning), 6 million have no hearing impairment.

Films with captions guarantee equal opportunities to people with disabilities and they give everyone equal access to enjoy all the great content that is produced around the world.

One thing that’s important to remember when creating a Closed Caption file is that the captions must match the spoken words in the dialogue and convey background noises and other sounds to the fullest extent possible, as they are aimed at the deaf and hard-of-hearing.

If someone is watching a show with captions, they ought to have the same sort of experience. If someone says ‘Kill that bitch!’ then caption it as such. Everyone should be able to have the same shocked reaction to the word ‘bitch’ as anyone else. Why should people who use or need closed captions be different?

However, this does not imply that every sound must be communicated. If the viewer can clearly see what is happening in the video, it is not necessary to caption obvious sound effects (especially not actions) as this can upset or offend the audience.

A good example of this is as follows:

As you can see, this is a caption describing the visual content of the video, not the audio.

Fun fact: The term “closed” (versus “open”) indicates that the captions are not visible until activated by the viewer, usually via the remote control or menu option.