Closed Captioning

[samhexum]

I have tinnitus. I keep my window cracked a bit in the bedroom for 'white noise' as I live 2 blocks from a highway. Plus, I sometimes have a fan or the a/c going, so I have a lot of things affecting my hearing of dialogue on TV. I don't want to make it any louder than I already do (neighbors), so I've been using closed captioning recently.

 

I am shocked at the difference in quality between shows. Some are spot-on, or maybe have slight errors. Others are awful. Last night's SIMPSONS, for example. Entire words were dropped, only a couple of letters of other words were shown... it was complete gobbledygook compared to the actual dialogue. If I really couldn't hear the dialogue, it would have been very hard to follow.

Edited October 15, 2018 by samhexum

[+ Avalon]

Sometimes the cc is crap! I usually watch shows later online so to skip the commercials. I would think by then that they would have fixed the cc mistakes!

[+ Travis69]

Audimute.com I have the mats you hang on the wall. They are great to block noise between neighbors and also absorb sound in your room. Might help so you can up the volume on the TV and block out noise from the highway. Easy to hang and looks like a padded wall.

[Nvr2Thick]

I like to use closed captioning because I hate the trend towards extremes in dynamic range. I hate setting the volume so that I can hear conversation scenes well, only to be blasted by loud soundtrack music and to have to roll up the volume more for intimate or subtle dialogue.

 

I've noticed two additional negative trends in closed captioning. The first is a tendency to drop in the captions way too early. I understand that people need time to read before the focus changes or the scene cuts, but it's become ridiculous; the captions become spoilers. The second is that they're placing captions all over the screen, and more often on top of actors' faces or other critical visual elements. When I had a 19" TV captions were always at the bottom, and it was perfectly fine. Now I've got a 55" wide-screeen TV, and the captions can't get out of the way of the action.

Edited October 16, 2018 by Nvr2Thick

[+ Avalon]

On "The Amazing Race" I hate when the cc skips over the names of places. I want to be able to look them up.

[samhexum]

Audimute.com I have the mats you hang on the wall. They are great to block noise between neighbors and also absorb sound in your room. Might help so you can up the volume on the TV and block out noise from the highway. Easy to hang and looks like a padded wall.

 

I LIKE the highway noise. I grew up with it, so to me it is just white noise to drown out the tinnitus. If I didn't want it, I'd close the window.

 

Only neighbor who adjoins my bedroom is below. A benefit of having a top-floor corner apt.

 

I watch TV all night long sometimes, which is why I worry about the volume getting too high.

[Kevin Slater]

I am hard of hearing and watch everything with subtitles. I hate when I'm watching a foreign film (subtitled of course) and there's a scene with spoken English and they don't subtitle (cuz... it's English).

 

Kevin Slater

[samhexum]

Okay... I know closed captioning isn't always perfect, but in last night's episode of FBI some of the action took place in Staten Island. Every time somebody mentioned it, the captions read Stanton Island. REALLY?!?!? The show is filmed and set in NYC and you can't even get the name of one of the boroughs correct?

Edited February 11, 2021 by samhexum

[gallahadesquire]

So much of captioning is done by computer, the mistakes can be fun.

[samhexum]

So much of captioning is done by computer, the mistakes can be fun.

The computer needs a geography lesson. ??

[Lookin]

I don't use closed captioning but I did notice that my new TV has audio settings, one of which is Voice Zoom.

 

It really makes dialog stand out and much easier to hear at reasonable volumes, and has ten levels of adjustment.

 

In case it helps.

[nate_sf]

For some of my work meetings people have used Google Hangouts instead of Zoom. Hangouts has a closed captions option that will caption in real time, and it’s quite good. But then I just sit there mesmerized watching the captions roll out as people talk and I don’t pay attention to what’s being said, so I have to turn them back off.

Edited February 11, 2021 by nate_sf

[Kevin Slater]

I don't use closed captioning but I did notice that my new TV has audio settings, one of which is Voice Zoom.

 

It really makes dialog stand out and much easier to hear at reasonable volumes, and has ten levels of adjustment.

 

In case it helps.

 

Huh, never heard of this. Unfortunately, google doesn't have much to add, so I'm guessing the tv makers aren't pushing it much.

 

Kevin Slater

[Lookin]

Huh, never heard of this. Unfortunately, google doesn't have much to add, so I'm guessing the tv makers aren't pushing it much.

 

Kevin Slater

If your TV has Sound Settings, it should be in there somewhere.

 

I think it's pretty much a boost of midrange frequencies associated with the human voice, usually 300 - 3400 cycles per second. If you can reduce both the bass and the treble, you might get the same effect.

 

Digital Signal Processing (DSP), which I'm guessing is what my TV uses for Voice Zoom, seems to be showing up a lot these days. Probably because the computing technology keeps getting smaller and cheaper.

 

A friend recently got some new hearing aids and he has all kinds of control over how they shape the sound he hears. Gone are the days when talking in a noisy restaurant posed a problem.

 

As a bonus, his smart phone sound can now go directly to his hearing aids.

 

He told me when I called him a few weeks ago that it sounded like my voice was inside his head. As I have a secret crush on him, I'm hoping this will be a plus and not turn into an issue. http://www.boytoy.com/public/style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif

 

[Islesguy]

If your TV has Sound Settings, it should be in there somewhere.

 

I think it's pretty much a boost of midrange frequencies associated with the human voice, usually 300 - 3400 cycles per second. If you can reduce both the bass and the treble, you might get the same effect.

 

Digital Signal Processing (DSP), which I'm guessing is what my TV uses for Voice Zoom, seems to be showing up a lot these days. Probably because the computing technology keeps getting smaller and cheaper.

 

A friend recently got some new hearing aids and he has all kinds of control over how they shape the sound he hears. Gone are the days when talking in a noisy restaurant posed a problem.

 

As a bonus, his smart phone sound can now go directly to his hearing aids.

 

He told me when I called him a few weeks ago that it sounded like my voice was inside his head. As I have a secret crush on him, I'm hoping this will be a plus and not turn into an issue. http://www.boytoy.com/public/style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif

 

My new aids have this feature but only with Apple products which sucks as I am an Android user. Thankfully, my sister got an ipad from work that she lets me use. Noisy rooms still give me issues even when I switch to that setting. I just go back to what I did with my analogs and lower the volume. Since people are usually speaking a little louder, lowering the volume decreases the background pickup. My favorite feature of my aids is the t switch. A lot of theaters are installing t coils and I no longer have to get the infrared devices since it will stream right into my aids.

[+ Archer]

You might want to try the Golvery wireless earbuds/headphones for TV. You can adjust the volume to your preference and the tv speakers are turned off while they are turned on. I also have tinnitus and used to play the tv and radio too loudly. They were recommended to me by a neighbor who was annoyed by the volume of my tv and music.