Comment on No LUFS regulations are the reason you use subtitles to watch TV – Tom Scott YT (7:58)
tiramichu@sh.itjust.works 8 months ago
Dynamic range and loudness normalisation is surely the main reason people are using subtitles, but habits are undeniably also changing too, as is the way people consume media in general.
People don’t just look at the TV for an hour straight - they are doing other things, or second-screening, or having conversations, and multiple methods being available to pick up on the show dialog is helpful.
Let’s not forget simple reasons like accessibility, either. My friend here in the UK is Hungarian, and despite being completely fluent in English he always likes to watch shows with subtitles as it helps with understanding some British accents which can be tricky for non-natives.
And people just process information in different ways. We’ve all heard by now that some individuals can be visually oriented, while other people are aural. If you get a choice, why not take it?
Not to mention that subs on streaming services are much better visual quality and timing than subs on broadcast TV used to be, which felt nasty and mis-timed, and very second-class. Clearly ‘good enough’ for hard of hearing individuals but not very pleasant.
I don’t think it’s a hot take to say that as accessibility features get better and more available, more people will use them. And accessibility is for everyone.
watch shows with subtitles as it helps with understanding some British accents
If you’ve seen subtitles lately, they used to be pretty bad but now they’re horrible. The mess up on what’s being said a LOT.
Also they spell like a primary drop-out: till, your/you’re, etc.
You clearly don’t remember the days of live close captions. Hoo-boy, it’s like you could pinpoint the moments the transcriber lost their focus.
I think you’re missing the point. Lack of LUFS standards is what forces people that normally wouldn’t/don’t like to use subtitles to use them because they can’t understand dialogue otherwise.
I don’t disagree with that, all I’m saying is there are additional factors in play which also account for at least some of the rise in subtitle usage. It’s not all down to a single cause.
Volume normalisation is a problem, but it’s also true that people aren’t the same as they were 20 years ago and don’t behave the same as 20 years ago.
It’s kinda of a generational issue, though, because people are borne into this new world with new habits. It’s no longer paying attention to a single piece of media on a TV, but instead, turning on something in the background, while watching or reading something else on a phone.
I don’t really understand it, even as somebody with ADD. If you don’t like what’s on TV, change it or move to a different room while you read on your phone.
it helps with understanding some British accents which can be tricky for non-natives.
There are native Londoners from the west of London who have trouble understanding the native Londoners from the east of London and vice versa
boatswain@infosec.pub 8 months ago
Wouldn’t this make subtitles less useful rather than more? You can’t see the subtitles if you’re not just looking at the TV. For second-screening, it would be more helpful to listen to the audio while you’re also scrolling Lemmy or whatever.
tiramichu@sh.itjust.works 8 months ago
Sure, but it’s multi-modal.
If you’re having a conversation, or doing some other task that makes sound, or scrolling social media and a video starts playing, there could be a noise that momentarily covers up the audio and you miss something. If there are subs then you can also quickly glance to see what was going on.
Listening to spoken dialog allows you to look away, but subs let you catch back up if you miss the spoken dialog.