TV Subtitles Are Used Most Often by Adults Age 18-29 — What Are Your ‘Must-Read’ Shows?
Young adults — not Gen Xers or Boomers — are more likely to regularly turn on closed captioning when watching a TV program, a new survey reveals.
In a recent YouGov survey of 1,000 U.S. adults (charted below), more than 50% of the respondents age 18-29 said they use closed captioning “always” or “most of the time” even when watching a show presented in a language they know.
For the next oldest, age 30-44 demo, 35% use closed captioning always/most of the time, while the percentages for the 45-64 and 65+ respondents are even smaller.
Closed captioning for television was first put into use in 1980, to describe to the deaf and hard of hearing all spoken content and significant music/sound effects. Since 2011, the FCC has required all providers of programs to caption material which has audio in English or Spanish, with some exceptions.
TVLine raised the issue of an increasing reliance on closed captioning more than four-and-a-half years ago, in an op-ed titled “Dear TV: I Have a Closed Caption Habit (And Apparently Many Others Do, Too).” In the poll we ran back then, 46% of respondents said they “always” have CC on, with another 28% saying “very often.” Only 6% said they “never” use closed captioning.
When it comes to the WHY, 26% of TVLine respondents blamed “mumbling actors,” 25% said “to catch details amid fast-paced dialogue,” and 18% complained that “music drowns out dialogue.” And how! (Five percent said they utilize the feature because they have a diagnosed hearing deficit.)
Seemingly independent of the YouGov survey results cited above, the New York Times this week took a look at the wider-spread use of closed captioning and consulted an array of experts to diagnose the cause of this trend. The usual suspects surfaced:
➡ The design of ever-thinner TVs has forced the tiny, tinny speakers to face away from the viewer
➡ Feature film content that had its sound elaborately mixed to sound damn great in a theater suffers from being compressed to squeeze out of your laptop’s itty-bitty speaker
➡ Baseline volume levels wildly vary from streamer to streamer
As TVLine suggested years ago, a supplemental sound bar can help, while the Times‘ tech editor notes that Prime Video has a “dialogue boost” option that offers greater clarity with spoken words (but cannot make up for an actor’s poor enunciation).
All I know is that I would have understood mayyyyybe 25% of Apple TV+’s Accents From All Over the World-heavy Hijack were it not for closed captioning, which alas is not always available with press screeners!
What does your closed captioning habit look like these days? Is there a program for which you just know you will always need them? Name names, and vote in our new poll below.
We always use English subtitles (as Dutch people in the Netherlands). We don’t always need to read them; 99% or what’s being said is clear. But sometimes the music (even though we use a Sonos sound bar) is too hard, while the voices are too quiet. So in those cases it’s nice to be able to fall back on subtitles.
Ted Lasso for sure and also used subtitles for Bad Sisters. Haven’t turned them on yet for Suits, but they would be helpful in understanding whatever Louis Litt is saying.
Subtitles were a necessity for Ted Lasso; good luck understanding any of Keeley’s mumbled lines without them.
Ted Lasso is the prime example of the occasional need for subtitles, particularly when their accents become thicker and the use of British idioms become more prevalent. Slang changes with time so it helps to keep up with the changes in the language too.
For movies, anything by Christopher Nolan.
The sound mixing feels like it’s designed to make dialogue extremely difficult to understand without subtitles. And that has nothing to do with the quality of TV speakers. Whether using just the television’s speakers, a soundbar, or a good surround system, it’s always muffled and distorted.
Nolan insists on keeping the actor’s “original performance” rather than have the actors re-record difficult to hear audio. It’s a foolish policy since the audience can’t hear the actor’s performance.
Peaky blinders was a whole different experience with subtitles on.
My grandma tried using them but she didn’t like how fast they went so I removed them. Maybe that’s a common problem.
I first started using CC/ english subtitles while watching Ab Fab back in the 90s. Since then, if the CC is available, I will use it. (My friends and family are “why are the subtitles on?” / “Cuz I like to combine my two hobbies – reading and watching tv – into one activity”).
We don’t do subtitles that often but we love watching shows with the descriptive audio setting turned on. I find that I’m able to catch more of the plot and small details with that on, and it helps if you have to turn away from the TV during an action/non-verbal scene.
Descriptive Audio is a MUST for Marvel/Star Wars shows. Often fills in some blanks.
I use subtitles for every show but anything British is usually a must.
I watch a ton of British shows & feel they enunciate words more clearly & I rarely need cc.
not the ones based in Yorkshire :)
It really depends on the region. Scottish shows I most definitely need it. 😂
Three issues come up on British shows. They use slang I don’t always catch. Closed captioning lets me see it and look it up if necessary. Cockney slang especially. The one I really didn’t need it for was “innit” for “isn’t it.” Since it sounds so much like “isn’t it” said quickly, I had no idea the actors were saying “innit.”
I need it for heavy accents, especially heavy Scottish, Yorkshire, and Cockney accents. Taggart. Vera.
And, there are all those british shows from before the mid-90s when it seems as though the boom mics are too far from the actors while they seem to pick up ambient sounds like wind, birds, or trees rustling far too well. Dalgleish used to have walk and talk scenes that were unintelligible due to ambient sounds and varying volumes of the voices.
I find that I need it or have to raise the volume when I watch Match Game reruns on GSN. Their sound is awful and especially Gene Rayburn’s mic.
I had to use captions when I watched The Rising because of the thick accents
With streaming and the possibility for numerous subtitle tracks, I am surprised that none of the streamers have come up with “English subtitles for native English speakers”. For example, in the Welsh series In My Skin there is a male character, Priest, with a thick Welsh accent that I could not understand more than 50% of what the character was saying. Yet I did not really need the subtitles to be on for the entire series since I was able to understand more than 90% of the remaining dialogue and could hit “rewind 10 seconds” on my Roku which has a setting that turns on the subtitles upon rewind.
Another example, Mr InBetween from Australia. I had zero issues with the accents but the Aussie slang can be tricky. While that series aired on the linear FX network, a “slang translation subtitled track” could work on streaming (all three seasons are currently on Hulu).
I only use subtitles on foreign language shows and series. I hate that a lot of streamers do not differentiate between closed captions and subtitles. There is a
difference, Closed captions like the one in the above photo stating that “Roy grunts” drive me crazy. Netflix and foreign streamers like MHZ, Viaplay and Walter Presents via PBS Masterpiece do the best on subtitles. With most of the other major streamers you get close captions that sometimes won’t go away and keep popping up on everything.
That’s so funny, because I think the closed captions can really add to the show. Some of the best memes out of Bridgerton are from the closed caption descriptions!
Well captions weren’t made for the hearing for Pete’s sake! They should be the default option for that reason. Subtitles are different and having them ALSO available is totally cool. But seriously .. let’s not forget who captions were made for.
Derry Girls!!! And I would be missing a lot of laughs otherwise.
I live in an apartment, and I turn the volume down at night to keep from bothering my neighbors. It’s amazing how many shows have music or background noises that overwhelm the dialogue unless you have it really loud. (Or that have super-loud gun battles at some point in almost every episode.)
Action scenes and commercial breaks are way too loud. Opening credits, when used, are often too loud, too. Watching at night after some people have gone to bed, we keep subtitles on so we know what’s being said. I used to only have them on for when my deaf grandma or sister were watching with me. Now I’m 52 and have used them for years because some people on TV mutter or mumble or are just too hard to understand. And I hate that some streamers don’t offer subtitles for various episodes. Prime does for some Minx eps and not for others, or they’re only in Spanish. Saw that today. What the heck, I need them in English. Peacock usually works if you do a quick 10 second backup so the subtitles kick on. And yet I’ll have them set to be on the whole time.
i’ve been using them more often lately (i’m 40) because i find the music/action/background audio is often way too loud and the dialogue audio is way too quiet. it really started for shows on Netflix like “The Night Agent” and “The Recruit.” i don’t often need them for linear tv (i have yttv) but streaming it’s almost a must.
I remember needing them on How to Get Away With Murder & Scandal entire episodes pretty much. Everyone spoke so fast & talked over each other. But now it’s mostly shows with the background music too loud. I do always put them on late at night so I can lower the volume once my husband goes to bed.
I watch most things with captions now, after turning them on for Love Island UK and other British imports. You end up catching some really interesting details (like small pieces of background dialogue that might not seem super relevant but can really add layers to a scene or character relationship). I also think Netflix does a fantastic job of creative descriptions for music, etc. (see any of their originals, but Bridgerton has some classics) – that just add to the viewing experience in a fun way.
It depends on which device I’m viewing something on. My “smart” TV has terrible sound (and I know I need to get a good sound bar for it, but cc is a lot less expensive), and I generally use cc for watching streaming shows on it. But I have an older digital TV that I have no problem hearing dialogue on. I know people complain about music drowning out sound and mumbling actors, which does happen more often these days, but most of the time it’s the device.
There are tons of educational studies about the benefits of it for children and the shows they watch!
Ted Lasso and Outlander are must captions for me, just can’t pick up all the words through the accents. More and more it’s just helpful for low talkers, mumblers and when the soundtrack overwhelms the scene.
I hate close captioning. It distract me from the movie, I always focus on reading and miss what happening on screen. I prefer rewind few times until I can make up what they are saying if possible. If not I move on not knowing what they said
Since I live near a highway and in an apartment building with a loud AC unit, I sometimes use the closed captioning just so that I don’t have to blast the TV. I’ve watched a lot of British TV so I’m pretty good at picking up accents but some of them I still need closed captioning. A lot of the time they are on but I can also hear the TV, it’s just easier if you miss a word or a phrase that was said too fast and/or too quiet
I’m in that .66%. I haven’t been able to hear well since I was 13. I got an infection and it damaged my eardrums. Fun. I need CC for everything and in order to understand people during conversations, I have to read lips. I’m 40 now, so I’m used to it.
Closed captioning was absolutely necessary for Derry Girls. The combination of Irish accents, fast-paced dialogue and unfamiliar slang makes it impossible for me to get all the jokes without it.
I rarely have them on but I always have headphones on. The minute I have my headphones off I do turn them on. I found this really shocking until I started to read the reasons why and realized I utilize headphones for the same reasons.
When closed-captions in an action series reveals an interrupted sentence, you know something’s gonna happen.
Live with Kelly & Mark is not live-live, but the CC’ing job is “cleaner” than most other pre-taped talk shows.
100% CC is required in Canada, including the commercials (we also have rules about ads volume levels). I find it non-inclusive when local Vermont advertisers or non-profit PSA are not captionned.
Many newscasts relay the teleprompter to CC, but when using speech-to-text during live reports, the end result can be sometimes unintelligible or hilarious.
Did the poll take into account being *able* to turn on captions? How many older folks would use them if they could figure it out? lol
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(Also, this GenXer always uses captions whenever possible.)
Oh, another snarky “old people are so out of it they can’t handle any technology more advanced than a rotary phone ha ha ha ha” cliche.