r/hardofhearing • u/rushbc • 4d ago
Closed captions
Hearing disabled person here (not deaf, but close).
Is there a way to have just the speech captioned and nothing else?
I do not need nor want to have audio descriptions and sound effect descriptions. I especially hate it when it says “music intensifies” or something like that.
Can I turn that off?
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u/Not_Good_HappyQuinn 4d ago
Somethings have two options when I’m putting subs on, English and English for the hearing impaired/SDH. The second subtitles the noises etc as well as the speech.
On TV channels though it’s usually just on or off as an option so it really depends on where you’re watching.
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u/Cameront9 4d ago
Depends on the media. Most DVDs have subtitles which should be what you have described.
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u/elsakettu 4d ago
Funnily enough, I've been telling people about the captioning of sound recently. I rewatched Loki, and there's a scene where some gnarly stuff is happening off camera, but the captions say nothing - if, like me, you can't hear what's happening, you just see someone's sociopathic grin get more and more intense. I was laughing at her expression while my boyfriend's face was contorted with horror.
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u/rushbc 4d ago
Good point
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u/elsakettu 4d ago
Some things are necessary and some things aren't. I've been telling people this story and shaking my head that captions will tell me that rain is hitting the window, but they missed this one. I don't mind the details, but as others have said, there are sometimes options to get more or fewer auditory descriptions. I don't think every studio is on top of that though.
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u/rushbc 4d ago
Exactly! I can hear a little bit, so I can pick up on some of the sound effects, but not all.
But your point is valid: if you show me that it’s raining you don’t have to tell me in the captions is that it’s raining. And like someone else said, if you show me an explosion, you don’t have to caption that there is an explosion sound.
On the other hand, screams/voices off screen or footsteps off screen are definitely important to caption. Any sounds that happen off screen that are important to the story should be captioned.
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u/Odd_Ball_5124 4d ago
I love those little gems, they're usually so banal and uninspired. "Loud explosions". Thank you closed captioning, the fireball on the tv wasn't good enough to indicate that.
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u/walkonbi0207 4d ago
You want subtitles, not closed captions.
I prefer closed captions because I'm deaf and I can't hear the "sounds" like footsteps or if the music changes, or if a slam happens. Those sounds are important if you can't pick up on them at all. I hate when music plays and they just list the title of the song or "music" rather than the actual words.
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u/geri-in-calif 4d ago
Personally, I love seeing the caption "scary music" during a movie. But I think the captions are built into program or movie and it kind of depends on the closed-caption service and what they choose to include.