Television has been one of the main forms of entertainment inside the American home for more than thirty years, but millions of people haven't been able to enjoy it to the fullest. Consider this bit of information from the National Center for Health Statistics - in 1985, 21.2 million Americans were deaf or hearing impaired, about 9 percent of the total population. These days the hearing impaired can watch some of their favorite prime time shows and all the presidential debates because of closed captioning.
In 1979, a non profit foundation was developed by the U.S. government, and they are responsible for 90 percent of the TV shows' subtitles and captioning. This same group has also done the subtitles for thousands of movies that are now available on videotape or DVD's. Look at it this way - if you are talking about six stations that run 18 hours of programming a day, around 13 percent of these programs offer closed captioning. Out of all the shows that are closed captioned, children's programs make up a third.
This organization is responsible for convincing the people who run the networks to allow provide captioning for their programs. Convincing them can be difficult at times. The market that will become viewers as a result of closed captioning, is something that network producers, are only now beginning to understand. In fact, they only realized what people with hearing loss and deafness required, after we spoke with them.
The audience for closed captions is estimated to be at almost one million, a fact that makes some executives reluctant to provide subtitles for their programs. Just a few years ago there were a mere 150,000 homes equipped with closed caption decoders, but that figure has definitely grown. In the year that 150,000 homes reportedly had decoders it was expected that an additional 30,000 would have them by the end of the year.
We refer to this as the chicken or the egg dilemma, as in which comes first, since it's the number of captioned programs that influences the viewer numbers, which in turn affect how many programs are captioned. To provide captions during one hour of television, it can cost around $2000. Also influencing the cost are such variables as how long it takes to produce those captions as well as how difficult the script is.
Other decisions must be made as well, such as when a caption should appear on the screen and what length of time will be needed for viewers to read it. Closed captioning is a quicker process when we are working with action movies. For instance, subtitling Raiders of the Lost Ark, will be much less involved than providing subtitles for A Man for All Seasons.
The Public Broadcasting Service, the Department of Education, and other businesses, provide the necessary funding for certain shows while foundations and NCI fund other programs. A deal may be struck which will call for the network to pay a third of the cost, you pay a third of the cost, and we will, then, pay a third of the cost. The issue with the size of the viewership is partly due to the decoder, and partly due to lack of public awareness. When decoders were first introduced in 1980, they cost $280. The cost of a decoder is now less than $250, usually around $200.
There are some government funded grants and private foundations that help low income families who are in need of decoders get one. In larger cities, there are programs that allow people to buy a decoder for as little as $35. Hopefully one day technology will advance to the point of allowing television manufacturers providing decoders in at least one model of television, so that all the hearing impaired would have to do is buy that model of television.
Many Americans suffer through compromised hearing without this disability even being apparent to others. Even though Americans with hearing problems make up the largest physically disabled group in America, due to the fact the disability is often not obvious the hearing impaired end up isolated. The biggest bonus to closed captioning is it allows a family to enjoy a show together, the hearing impaired enjoying the show or movie just as much as family members who can hear perfectly.
In 1979, a non profit foundation was developed by the U.S. government, and they are responsible for 90 percent of the TV shows' subtitles and captioning. This same group has also done the subtitles for thousands of movies that are now available on videotape or DVD's. Look at it this way - if you are talking about six stations that run 18 hours of programming a day, around 13 percent of these programs offer closed captioning. Out of all the shows that are closed captioned, children's programs make up a third.
This organization is responsible for convincing the people who run the networks to allow provide captioning for their programs. Convincing them can be difficult at times. The market that will become viewers as a result of closed captioning, is something that network producers, are only now beginning to understand. In fact, they only realized what people with hearing loss and deafness required, after we spoke with them.
The audience for closed captions is estimated to be at almost one million, a fact that makes some executives reluctant to provide subtitles for their programs. Just a few years ago there were a mere 150,000 homes equipped with closed caption decoders, but that figure has definitely grown. In the year that 150,000 homes reportedly had decoders it was expected that an additional 30,000 would have them by the end of the year.
We refer to this as the chicken or the egg dilemma, as in which comes first, since it's the number of captioned programs that influences the viewer numbers, which in turn affect how many programs are captioned. To provide captions during one hour of television, it can cost around $2000. Also influencing the cost are such variables as how long it takes to produce those captions as well as how difficult the script is.
Other decisions must be made as well, such as when a caption should appear on the screen and what length of time will be needed for viewers to read it. Closed captioning is a quicker process when we are working with action movies. For instance, subtitling Raiders of the Lost Ark, will be much less involved than providing subtitles for A Man for All Seasons.
The Public Broadcasting Service, the Department of Education, and other businesses, provide the necessary funding for certain shows while foundations and NCI fund other programs. A deal may be struck which will call for the network to pay a third of the cost, you pay a third of the cost, and we will, then, pay a third of the cost. The issue with the size of the viewership is partly due to the decoder, and partly due to lack of public awareness. When decoders were first introduced in 1980, they cost $280. The cost of a decoder is now less than $250, usually around $200.
There are some government funded grants and private foundations that help low income families who are in need of decoders get one. In larger cities, there are programs that allow people to buy a decoder for as little as $35. Hopefully one day technology will advance to the point of allowing television manufacturers providing decoders in at least one model of television, so that all the hearing impaired would have to do is buy that model of television.
Many Americans suffer through compromised hearing without this disability even being apparent to others. Even though Americans with hearing problems make up the largest physically disabled group in America, due to the fact the disability is often not obvious the hearing impaired end up isolated. The biggest bonus to closed captioning is it allows a family to enjoy a show together, the hearing impaired enjoying the show or movie just as much as family members who can hear perfectly.
About the Author:
You can get resources on tinnitus retraining therapy by visiting this site. See this ear tinnitus information for a deeper understanding.
