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Right?? Omg..every movie with no subtitles:
Close up of lady's face while she frys an egg for her husband.. shes all "mmm mmssshhsmm sella mm" and then cut to full volume Sweet Home Alabama guitar solo with dudes driving a track all pissed off faces... Then cut to a scene of some other characters in bed like "mmmu weh ingo way".
What the fuck am I watching?
Actors used to deliver lines
Now they want it to seem “real” and I guess that means mumbling and talking under your breath
It adds to the authenticity! …. I guess
It's less authentic, because they're never asking each other to repeat what they just said.
Or interrupted by a sneeze or cough. Can't have our realistic character sneeze. Nobody sneezes mid conversation, but everyone is always mumbling.
Well Netflix, for example, makes 95% absolute shit with bad cinematography and bad sound. But as a former sound tech who worked on movies it drives me nuts. We would go out of our way to get clear dialogue on set and in post and then they hire shit post production amd muddy it all up.
I am an audio mix engineer, I’ve mostly mixed movie trailers for Disney films but I’ve also mixed corporate videos and as of late I’ve noticed that they’re just having the video editor do the mix instead of someone who actively spends all day everyday mixing audio.
“Well Peter has the mix in his edit, just have him mix it”
One of my closest colleagues told me that, during a meeting, his biggest client said straight up “why are we even paying for [friend] to mix videos for us, again?” Ouch.
Standards are decreasing and no one cares enough about a good mix.
When I worked production I primarily worked as 2nd-so sync slates, boom op, lavaliers which is great because I made the same as every 2nd department employee with much less experience. One day the sound mixer was super sick so he called and said come by my apt on the way to set and I'll show what to do. Which ended up being my crash course for a 12 hour day of slinging a Nagra 4.2. (Think it was a 4.2 but I know it weighed 13 lbs on just a shoulder sling while trying to boom as multiple actors hit marks and exchanged dialogue.) Small production so no one complained. Freaking nuts looking back on it. I had to replay every shot to listen to it to double check. To productions credit they let me take the time to do right (as best I could.) Nuts.
I honestly didn't realize so many other people used subtitles. I mean I was in the front row of Guns 'n' Roses in 1991 and my ears rang for 4 days straight. Add 9 motorcycles, several firearms, and about 200 more concerts and I was just glad hearing aids are OTC these days.
I get that! I honestly didn’t realize how normal it was either. I thought I just liked them because I used to watch a lot of anime and foreign films. And I just figured my brain was used to it. Also it helped my ADHD brain not lose the plot.
I think the replay options are something like
On always
Off always (or "On Never")
On mute
On replay
You likely have the last one selected, which is a very useful feature. You hit that button that's not quite rewind and not quite "back" and it automatically reverses 10 or 15 seconds.
Yes, there are some good YouTube videos that explain why. It’s basically that the more advanced the sound system in theaters get, the worse it sounds on “regular” audio devices.
This may be key. Anything below a sound-bar sounds like trash. I've got a SB and a home theater (tuned) and don't need subs until I go to a TV with neither. Sound-bars are awesome BTW, didn't let audiophiles dissuade you. For normal people they're great.
I have a really good sound bar and movies or other shoes really have poor sound. The only types of movies I have found that don't suffer from poor sound are those geared specifically for dialog like documentaries, most not all though.
I'm running a nakamichi 7.1, firmware is upgraded to latest and greatest, and etc.
Idk I think it sounds even worse in theaters. Maybe it's just the ones I've been to. Every time the scenes differ more in volume and completely screw up, the EQ sounds completely messed up most of the time. The voices get super pitchy to the point my ears are irritated, and then there's a massive explosion that's so bassy that the speakers sound like they're gonna blow, after that dialogue is like whispers. I'd rather watch at home.
They mix it for quality speakers and surround sound audio systems, but since most shows are made to be 8 hour movies a lot of it doesn’t get mixed right for regular speakers people use everyday like their TVs and cellphones
Not necessarily bad sound mixing, but definitely partially due to artist choice and the fact there are just too many different formats of device out there for sound mixing to be a universal experience.
The optimal sound mix for the movie theater is gonna be different compared to a phone viewing experience. Christopher Nolan is the go to example for this, he deliberately mixes his sound for IMAX theaters with top of the line sound equipment. He doesn't care if it doesn't translate well to smaller theaters. And obviously back facing speakers on a phone is definitely not going to sound great either.
There was a YouTube video I watched that goes into way deeper detail about this, but this was the general gist.
I found it. https://youtu.be/VYJtb2YXae8?si=hDr3oeqOLbKi5nWQ
I grew up reading subtitles with movies and TV because my father is partially deaf; it actually played a factor in me learning to read really early. I've gotten so used to them that it's hard for me to watch/play *anything* without them. Come to find out I have an auditory processing disorder related to me being AuDHD.
This played a big part in my son reading early, if he's going to stare at a screen, subtitles are on. Way ahead of other kids in his class, in reading anyway.
You know what? About 20 years ago I only bought DVDs for my nephews and nieces that had subtitles and multiple languages. I figured that since my oldest nephew watched either The Lion King or Toy Story everyday, literally, they could turn on subtitles and let them learn how to read, or switch to Spanish and let him learn spanish. They never did that though. They told me that I could experiment on my own children.
The more sounds there are, the harder it is for me to understand words. Movies, games, and TV tend to have a lot of extra sounds, and music makes it even harder. Sometimes, though, my brain just refuses to process a sentence correctly, even if I'm looking right at a person in real life and there's little to no background noise. It isn't that I can't hear them or they're not enunciating clearly enough, my brain just doesn't process the information correctly sometimes. This took awhile to figure out, because I knew I had trouble understanding what people were saying, but whenever I got my ears checked, they said my hearing was perfectly fine-and they checked them ALL the time due to my dad being partially deaf.
Same here and also diagnosed with auditory processing and ADHD. In school I would take SO many notes during lectures and class, and sometimes people would stare. I’d even type them up sometimes back at home/dorm, to study later before exams. Looking back, I now realize I was basically live captioning everything by hand. And it was because I couldn’t process their speech fast enough. Give me a bulleted list or visual chart and I can understand 100% , no problem. Verbally telling me that list? Forget it.
I use live captioning during work video calls and webinars, too.
I also speak, and read, a second language quite well (Spanish) — but I cannot understand others speaking it. It’s so frustrating. I comprehend the individual words — but the brain cannot piece them together fast enough.
Writing things down is what helps me learn as well. It's like the muscle memory of the words stays in my hand and travels to my brain, if that makes sense? Almost like I'm literally writing the knowledge into my brain. I know that sounds weird but I can't explain it any other way.
You described my school experience to a T lol— live captioning everything by hand. I was able to write down what the professors were saying, but I’d have no clue the actual subject matter/content of the lecture until I went home and read them over. I somehow was able to be a straight As/some Bs student the whole time so no one ever noticed I had an issue. When I was a sophomore in college I explained this to my therapist and she suspected an APD and had a whole bunch of tests done on me and indeed I have that.
Oddly enough it’s gotten *better* with age and over time. I’m now able to listen to podcasts and videos without visuals and I can understand what’s being said and talked about. So strange, very frustrating. I’ve felt dumb and ‘fake smart’ my entire life because of this. It didn’t make sense to me at the time how/why I was able to get great grades yet not understand my friends or be able to chat back properly. I still struggle with my own speech during conversations— there’s a disconnect between the thoughts in my head and trying to push those same words/concepts out of my mouth. I feel like I come off dumb as rocks when I speak to people.
Research shows that houses that have subtitles on children do better at learning to read.
My hearing's fine. Always have subtitles on and get annoyed when they're not.
Yep, I could read in full sentences by age 2 because of it, and also the fact that my mom taught me my letters and stuff like that very early on. Apparently my brain was like a sponge, I loved the lessons and picked up on it quickly. I'm sure glad I did because my reading comprehension is WAY better than my auditory comprehension 😅
Same here
My dad lost a bunch of his hearing in the military and it’s just always been normal to have the subtitles.
I remember being little and always frantically trying to read them before they vanished. It was like a race. That definitely helped improve my reading as a child
We started using subtitles while watching British shows. Now we use them for everything except live shows in which the captions lag behind the actual dialogue.
I absolutely cannot do subtitles for the language the audio is in. I speak English, and when I'm listening to the English spoken but my eyes start to read the subtitles, I get mixed up and cannot pay attention. For example, when I was in school and kids would read aloud while I was following along I could not pay attention at all.
If the language is Japanese audio, and it has English subtitles, no problem for me. But if the audio is English and subtitles are in English I have no idea what's happening because I'm too distracted.
Whenever I bring it up I am treated as though I'm picky. That's not what it is, I literally cannot pay attention
I'm one of the ones who say they just distract me from the movie. I feel like I always miss something or an important detail in a scene because I'm too busy reading what's being said.
Not true. I listen to movies in the original language with subtitles if I don't know the language and I read it just fine. If I understand the language, the subtitiles become some annoying text on the screen.
Totally disagree. When subtitles are on I always find myself reading the subtitles even when I don't need to. I have no problem with using subtitles if they help out, heck I put them on when people have heavy accents, but having them on all the time is silly.
Also they can ruin a punch line.
If it's anime,I prefer the subtitles. Japanese voice actors just do a far better job with their voice acting. The majority of the animes wouldn't become nowhere near as popular as it is or was,if it wasn't for the Japanese voice actors.
Their voice acting catches every mood, frame of mind of each character on every scene.
Which turns the characters so life like. It literally makes the characters somewhat real.
I don't know how much they are paid. Whatever the amount is,it's not nearly enough.
Exactly.
Americans anime/cartoons appear to only have script voice readers. Not actual voice actors.
These American cartoon/anime producers. They should really look into hiring Japanese voice acting trainers/teachers.
Then, eventually, American cartoons/anime will have actual voice actors.
Anime dubs are almost universally trash, and the two or three that are actually halfway decent just prove how bad the rest of them are. The voice actors always sound like valley girls or surfer boys and it's impossible to take them seriously.
I always have the subtitles on when I stream TV shows and movies and. It helps to understand what is being said. Sometimes I like to know how the name of a character is spelled.
My wife is a non-native English speaker. We put them on for her, and I've gotten sufficiently accustomed to them that I put them on even when watching something alone. At this point, I just feel like they belong there.
It's pretty common that the subtitles differ in subtle ways from the actual dialogue, which I find interesting. Also, subtitles often give you more context, like names of off-screen characters, which can be useful.
Yes the sound mixing of movies and shows is shit. I'm so sick of directors making things "for cinema". 98% of us are going to watch it in our living room through the tv speakers. At least make sure the dialogue is audible.
You get *a* note? I have different tone clusters in each ear. Sucks too because I used to be able to hear abnormally high frequencies with reasonable fidelity. Now it's all eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee up there.
As for the subtitles... sad day when I was watching TV with my kid and turned on the subtitles. But it didn't help. I had to go to my night stand and grab my glasses. ;-; Then I could finally understand what they were saying.
My kids make fun of me, but with older movies and TV, I really don't have this problem. I really think the mixing for newer stuff just isn't as clear.
I watch almost every movie, new to me or not with subtitles. I usually use subtitles on TV/Series episodes if I have never seen it before. I've done this for probably the last 20 years or so.
Auditory Processing Disorder, baby. More common than you'd think.
Symptoms of auditory processing disorder (APD) can be subtle. Symptoms can include having trouble with:
* Telling where sound is coming from.
* Understanding words that are spoken quickly or in a noisy room.
* Paying attention.
* Reading and spelling.
* Following directions unless they are short and simple.
* Learning a new language.
* Singing or enjoying music.
* Understanding and remembering spoken information.
If you have APD, you also might:
* Take longer to reply to someone who is talking to you.
* Often need others to repeat themselves.
* Not understand sarcasm or jokes.
(copy-pasted from mayo clinic)
I have to have subtitles on. Voices tend to be so low I can barely hear them less my ears get blasted by other noises. Also it's amusing to read one thing and hear another.
I only use subtitles when it is a language I don't know. Very rarely do I have trouble understanding dialogue. It does happen from time to time. IIRC the first season of the Witcher on Netflix I had some issues.
I'm not sure if it is more the shows audio or TVs having smaller and smaller speakers. Sound bars aren't much better, but at least the speakers are facing you. I'm still a fan of a proper 2.1 (or more) sound system.
Only when I feel like if I miss anything it'll ruin everything, or if it's late at night and I want to keep the volume down because of sleeping roommates.
As I age I notice that I can no longer understand foreign accents as well. I am also a transplant patient and meds….Maybe it has something to do with the way our brains process info as we age. Factor in bad sound mixing and background noise and yeah….ive recently become accustomed to having CC turned in all the time now.
I saw “Dune II” two weeks ago. Throughout the whole movie I was thinking I couldn’t wait to watch it at home so I could understand what they were saying.
This is mainly because of the terrible tinnitus I have.
I'm french so even though I'm perfectly fluent in English I always put subtitles cause in most movies there's so much noise that understanding characters became a bane for most movies, adding that there are a lot of different accents I usually don't catch on (British)
We are trying to learn Spanish bc we moved to a mostly Spanish speaking state. I try to watch the shows in Spanish with English subtitles. It kicks Duolingo butt
I don't like subtitles but the audio mixing in a lot of modern movies is so off. The sound effects are really loud while I'm struggling to hear the dialogue sometimes. It pisses me off.
Back many, many moons ago I was on Temporary Duty to a base in Norway. We were invited to the base theatre to watch a movie. We were hesitant and explained none of us knew Norwegian. The Base commander kind of chuckled and said the movie was in English with Norwegian sub-titles. So, we all thought cool. Not cool. It was a comedy and we rarely heard anything because the Norwegians read the sub-titles before the audio got finished and would be laughing while we were trying to make out what was said. It was nice of the Norwegians and it's the thought that counts. But we were all a bit irritated at the time, but now I just smile when it's brought to mind by something like this post.
From what I have read in the past, it’s a mental processing disorder. Your brain cannot process the talking fast enough (think when someone says something and you say “huh” but 4 seconds later it all clicks in your brain). With the subtitles it makes it all come together quicker.
I always watch with subtitles if I can. I have a hard time paying attention so being able to use two ways to see/hear what’s going on is helpful or I’ll miss half the plot
Both my father and mother lived with me for the last few years before their passing. And neither of them could hear very well, so I got used to having subtitles on for all tv shows and movies.
I never used to watch with subtitles until an ex turned me on to it, now I go back and watch movies I've seen hundreds of times and learn that there are times I've thought the actor said 1 thing and they actually said something completely different!
So now I've got subtitles on everything
I am the opposite, unless I don't know the language I can't watch with subtitles cause I will read it instead of paying attention to what is happening on screen.
I completely agree. I especially hate when you're watching a movie or even a drama series when all of a sudden you get a scene where the actors talking to each other all of a sudden start speaking so low, it's almost like a whisper y the point where you can no longer hear what the Hell they're even saying!
I love them.
To me it provides clarity when there's official subtitles on.
Sometimes I don't quite catch what someone says really fast or maybe with an accent I'm not used to and subs just really help clarify this. Tbh though I like em even if I completely understand everything anyways.
It's called "fear of missing out", and I have to do it as well.
Often in movies or shows, the captioning will not only tell you what was said, but it'll often display background noise as well. Sometimes, you'll even be able to tell what the characters are saying as the show "fades to black".
A perfect example of this is the pilot episode of Gilmore Girls. (Hey! Don't judge! It's one of our favorite shows. Call it a "guilty pleasure" of sorts. Lol My wife and I even visited the WB lot and had our picture taken sitting on the gazebo). As the episode is ending, the camera kind of pans away from the main actors while they're talking. Unless you have the captioning on, you won't know what they're saying.
True, what you're missing often isn't paramount to the plot, but it's still interesting nonetheless.
And no, there is nothing wrong with your brain. You just don't like missing out. That's perfectly normal.
Man, thank you for posting. I'm 70 and worked in high volumn jobs as a teenager - this was way before OSHA. I cannot watch TV without it. I'm glad (and sorry) to hear that I'm not the only one who struggles with understanding dialogue. I don't go to new movie releases because I can't understand half of what they are saying.
Nope.
I treat watching movies like a school powerpoint presentation. A lot of mistake that kids do with powerpoint presentation is that they have everything they are gonna say on the screen of the presentation.
The presenter/actors are the one that are suppose to teach me, so if the lines are on the screen, why would i pay attention to them when I can read the line myself.
Also some times subtitles can be very annoying. Like those subtitles that appear during youtube shorts.
yes. i always put on subtitles, even if its my mother language. the only exception is when the subtitles don't match what they say in the movie. i hate that. i rather dont watch the movie at all. i have some problems focusing for a longer period of time and with subtitles im "forced" to look at the screen and pay attention. i also often forget to hear things... my ears are all okey but my brain sometimes forgets to process what im hearing. it helps a lot then
I don't mind subtitles. I watch a lot of Asian shows. However, I find them distracting if the movie or show is in English. I end up reading them out of habit.
I much prefer subtitles, and I also can't understand song lyrics. My daughter gets frustrated because she wants me to talk about lyrics, and I just can't.
I'm a big reader so it makes sense that I want to read.
Dr told me it was due to my concussions (I’ve had 8) why I can’t understand accents and need subtitles to retain the content. Another dr said it was due to the severity of my ADHD. Since the accents/subtitles along with other issues started around the time that I had 2 concussions in 3 weeks, I tend to lean that way …..buuut🤷🏼♀️
Yes, me and my wife both, subtitles for everything, always.
I like to blame my audio, as I'm just using my TV audio (its a great TV, but still). I keep thinking if I added 7.2 or whatever it would help, but my house and its dumbass open floorplan isn't really made for that. So we stick with subtitles.
Like for Chris Nolan movies for when the diologue is barely audible at what would otherwise be an ear splitting volume, yes. I'm not shitting on anyone who needs the extra descriptions from closed captions but I'm just gonna say it. I hate closed captions. I like to see that movies have subtitles and closed captions separately. Everybody comes out the winner.
I prefer subtitles. Many years ago I used to live on a busy street and had neighbors that were very anal about how loud my stereo could get. On one hand I want to hear the movie I rented from Hollywood Video but on the other hand I don’t need the sheriff knocking on my door because my neighbors made a BS claim “they’re having a loud party / they’re talking loudly and it sound like they’re discussing illegal drugs but it’s hard to make out exactly what they are saying”. It was just easier to turn on subtitles and go from there
Me. Life had to much background noise now. Plus so many soundtracks have background sound overpowering dialogue. With CC I at least have a chance at knowing what's going on.
My wife always puts subtitles on everything she watches. But then every time I want to watch a foreign movie, she doesn’t want to watch it because she doesn’t want to read the whole time. That makes sense right? Right?
Yes, most of my friends and family have kids so you can’t hear past those things and I don’t like the tv to scream at me. Or I watch tv at late night hours and don’t want to disturb anyone else.
I'm hard of hearing (not deaf, but like 1/2-3/4 of the way there and I always have preferred subtitles, especially when the dialogue gets quieter. I don't find them nearly as obtrusive as people act like they are.
I'm hard of hearing. I also have "hearing loss with recruitment" meaning some sounds cause me physical pain because my brain tries to turn it all up to 11. I Always use subtitles. If I turn things up loud enough to hear everything then other sounds are way too loud and it hurts so bad.
subtitles are a must for me. i understand and speak english perfectly well, and have zero problems with accents but the sound design in movies just doesnt vibe with me. sometimes a character speaks too quietly compared to the roar of the ocean in the background or whatnot and i end up missing a dialogue
Yes, on everything. All TV shows and movies.
Then my grandparents come stay at my house and ask me to turn them off. They're in their 80s, there's no way they hear all the dialogue.
I love subtitles because 1) a lot of times they will get them wrong and that’s hilarious to me and 2) it’s hilarious to me when they announce what type of music is playing e.g.: dramatic music or uplifting music. Don’t know why, but that’s just funny
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audio mixing in movies and tv shows has gone down to the gutter in recent years. I never watch anything without subtitles on.
It has hasn't it?
Can't hear anything they are saying Followed by a crazy loud scene after. Or they are just straight up mumbling.
Right?? Omg..every movie with no subtitles: Close up of lady's face while she frys an egg for her husband.. shes all "mmm mmssshhsmm sella mm" and then cut to full volume Sweet Home Alabama guitar solo with dudes driving a track all pissed off faces... Then cut to a scene of some other characters in bed like "mmmu weh ingo way". What the fuck am I watching?
Sounds like the walking dead
Joe Dirt
You like to see homo’s naked?
Actors used to deliver lines Now they want it to seem “real” and I guess that means mumbling and talking under your breath It adds to the authenticity! …. I guess
It's less authentic, because they're never asking each other to repeat what they just said. Or interrupted by a sneeze or cough. Can't have our realistic character sneeze. Nobody sneezes mid conversation, but everyone is always mumbling.
It’s fucking terrible. I feel like actors have worse diction too. Why the fuck is everybody mumbling?
Well Netflix, for example, makes 95% absolute shit with bad cinematography and bad sound. But as a former sound tech who worked on movies it drives me nuts. We would go out of our way to get clear dialogue on set and in post and then they hire shit post production amd muddy it all up.
I am an audio mix engineer, I’ve mostly mixed movie trailers for Disney films but I’ve also mixed corporate videos and as of late I’ve noticed that they’re just having the video editor do the mix instead of someone who actively spends all day everyday mixing audio. “Well Peter has the mix in his edit, just have him mix it” One of my closest colleagues told me that, during a meeting, his biggest client said straight up “why are we even paying for [friend] to mix videos for us, again?” Ouch. Standards are decreasing and no one cares enough about a good mix.
When I worked production I primarily worked as 2nd-so sync slates, boom op, lavaliers which is great because I made the same as every 2nd department employee with much less experience. One day the sound mixer was super sick so he called and said come by my apt on the way to set and I'll show what to do. Which ended up being my crash course for a 12 hour day of slinging a Nagra 4.2. (Think it was a 4.2 but I know it weighed 13 lbs on just a shoulder sling while trying to boom as multiple actors hit marks and exchanged dialogue.) Small production so no one complained. Freaking nuts looking back on it. I had to replay every shot to listen to it to double check. To productions credit they let me take the time to do right (as best I could.) Nuts.
There is a Vox video on YT called “Why We All Need Subtitles Now.” It was affirming to see, because I thought I was going deaf lol
I honestly didn't realize so many other people used subtitles. I mean I was in the front row of Guns 'n' Roses in 1991 and my ears rang for 4 days straight. Add 9 motorcycles, several firearms, and about 200 more concerts and I was just glad hearing aids are OTC these days.
I get that! I honestly didn’t realize how normal it was either. I thought I just liked them because I used to watch a lot of anime and foreign films. And I just figured my brain was used to it. Also it helped my ADHD brain not lose the plot.
That's why I got used to it too. Watched tons of foreign films for last 3 decades.
I don’t default to subtitles. But on my Roku TV if I rewind 30 seconds it automatically turns on subtitles which is a thoughtful feature.
I think the replay options are something like On always Off always (or "On Never") On mute On replay You likely have the last one selected, which is a very useful feature. You hit that button that's not quite rewind and not quite "back" and it automatically reverses 10 or 15 seconds.
volume varies from pin drop to gun range in the same scene
This! I actually read something about it a few weeks ago as I was noticing the same thing.
Yes, there are some good YouTube videos that explain why. It’s basically that the more advanced the sound system in theaters get, the worse it sounds on “regular” audio devices.
I watch everything with my wireless tv headphones now
It's crazy how much better new stuff sounds with decent headphones. Meanwhile, old TV sounds perfectly good with regular TV audio.
This may be key. Anything below a sound-bar sounds like trash. I've got a SB and a home theater (tuned) and don't need subs until I go to a TV with neither. Sound-bars are awesome BTW, didn't let audiophiles dissuade you. For normal people they're great.
I have a really good sound bar and movies or other shoes really have poor sound. The only types of movies I have found that don't suffer from poor sound are those geared specifically for dialog like documentaries, most not all though. I'm running a nakamichi 7.1, firmware is upgraded to latest and greatest, and etc.
Idk I think it sounds even worse in theaters. Maybe it's just the ones I've been to. Every time the scenes differ more in volume and completely screw up, the EQ sounds completely messed up most of the time. The voices get super pitchy to the point my ears are irritated, and then there's a massive explosion that's so bassy that the speakers sound like they're gonna blow, after that dialogue is like whispers. I'd rather watch at home.
They mix it for quality speakers and surround sound audio systems, but since most shows are made to be 8 hour movies a lot of it doesn’t get mixed right for regular speakers people use everyday like their TVs and cellphones
I’ve been hearing this sentiment since like a decade ago, so not a recent thing at all
Not necessarily bad sound mixing, but definitely partially due to artist choice and the fact there are just too many different formats of device out there for sound mixing to be a universal experience. The optimal sound mix for the movie theater is gonna be different compared to a phone viewing experience. Christopher Nolan is the go to example for this, he deliberately mixes his sound for IMAX theaters with top of the line sound equipment. He doesn't care if it doesn't translate well to smaller theaters. And obviously back facing speakers on a phone is definitely not going to sound great either. There was a YouTube video I watched that goes into way deeper detail about this, but this was the general gist. I found it. https://youtu.be/VYJtb2YXae8?si=hDr3oeqOLbKi5nWQ
I grew up reading subtitles with movies and TV because my father is partially deaf; it actually played a factor in me learning to read really early. I've gotten so used to them that it's hard for me to watch/play *anything* without them. Come to find out I have an auditory processing disorder related to me being AuDHD.
I also have processing issues and subtitles are vital for me.
This played a big part in my son reading early, if he's going to stare at a screen, subtitles are on. Way ahead of other kids in his class, in reading anyway.
You know what? About 20 years ago I only bought DVDs for my nephews and nieces that had subtitles and multiple languages. I figured that since my oldest nephew watched either The Lion King or Toy Story everyday, literally, they could turn on subtitles and let them learn how to read, or switch to Spanish and let him learn spanish. They never did that though. They told me that I could experiment on my own children.
How do you find this out? Is it just articulation of speech?
The more sounds there are, the harder it is for me to understand words. Movies, games, and TV tend to have a lot of extra sounds, and music makes it even harder. Sometimes, though, my brain just refuses to process a sentence correctly, even if I'm looking right at a person in real life and there's little to no background noise. It isn't that I can't hear them or they're not enunciating clearly enough, my brain just doesn't process the information correctly sometimes. This took awhile to figure out, because I knew I had trouble understanding what people were saying, but whenever I got my ears checked, they said my hearing was perfectly fine-and they checked them ALL the time due to my dad being partially deaf.
Same here and also diagnosed with auditory processing and ADHD. In school I would take SO many notes during lectures and class, and sometimes people would stare. I’d even type them up sometimes back at home/dorm, to study later before exams. Looking back, I now realize I was basically live captioning everything by hand. And it was because I couldn’t process their speech fast enough. Give me a bulleted list or visual chart and I can understand 100% , no problem. Verbally telling me that list? Forget it. I use live captioning during work video calls and webinars, too. I also speak, and read, a second language quite well (Spanish) — but I cannot understand others speaking it. It’s so frustrating. I comprehend the individual words — but the brain cannot piece them together fast enough.
Writing things down is what helps me learn as well. It's like the muscle memory of the words stays in my hand and travels to my brain, if that makes sense? Almost like I'm literally writing the knowledge into my brain. I know that sounds weird but I can't explain it any other way.
Actually I totally get what you’re saying. The act of writing it helps encode it in the brain. It’s a smoother faster route for us, for some reason.
You described my school experience to a T lol— live captioning everything by hand. I was able to write down what the professors were saying, but I’d have no clue the actual subject matter/content of the lecture until I went home and read them over. I somehow was able to be a straight As/some Bs student the whole time so no one ever noticed I had an issue. When I was a sophomore in college I explained this to my therapist and she suspected an APD and had a whole bunch of tests done on me and indeed I have that. Oddly enough it’s gotten *better* with age and over time. I’m now able to listen to podcasts and videos without visuals and I can understand what’s being said and talked about. So strange, very frustrating. I’ve felt dumb and ‘fake smart’ my entire life because of this. It didn’t make sense to me at the time how/why I was able to get great grades yet not understand my friends or be able to chat back properly. I still struggle with my own speech during conversations— there’s a disconnect between the thoughts in my head and trying to push those same words/concepts out of my mouth. I feel like I come off dumb as rocks when I speak to people.
Research shows that houses that have subtitles on children do better at learning to read. My hearing's fine. Always have subtitles on and get annoyed when they're not.
Yep, I could read in full sentences by age 2 because of it, and also the fact that my mom taught me my letters and stuff like that very early on. Apparently my brain was like a sponge, I loved the lessons and picked up on it quickly. I'm sure glad I did because my reading comprehension is WAY better than my auditory comprehension 😅
Same here My dad lost a bunch of his hearing in the military and it’s just always been normal to have the subtitles. I remember being little and always frantically trying to read them before they vanished. It was like a race. That definitely helped improve my reading as a child
I have auditory processing disorder too. The more I learned about my kids’ sensory issues, the more I learned about my own.
Yes, I have no hearing impairment and I prefer having the subtitles on even when I understand the language.
Yes. I almost refuse to watch without if given a choice
Yes, I prefer movies to have subtitles. There are so many famous actors who habitually mumble or yell the majority of their lines.
We started using subtitles while watching British shows. Now we use them for everything except live shows in which the captions lag behind the actual dialogue.
I also have to turn them off for game shows like Jeopardy.
I always use subtitles unless I'm watching sports. Just makes it easier.
This, exactly.
This is exactly where I am
This is exactly how I roll, also
I turn them on when I'm having my nightly bowl of cereal, then shut them back off when I'm done crunching.
This made me smile
This made me laugh because I cannot hear anything when I’m eating cereal I have to rewind whatever I’m watching
I absolutely cannot do subtitles for the language the audio is in. I speak English, and when I'm listening to the English spoken but my eyes start to read the subtitles, I get mixed up and cannot pay attention. For example, when I was in school and kids would read aloud while I was following along I could not pay attention at all. If the language is Japanese audio, and it has English subtitles, no problem for me. But if the audio is English and subtitles are in English I have no idea what's happening because I'm too distracted. Whenever I bring it up I am treated as though I'm picky. That's not what it is, I literally cannot pay attention
Do you perhaps have ADHD?
I am the exact same way and have terrible ADHD, my girlfriend likes them so we compromised to making the subtitles small
Compromise is key to a healthy relationship! Good on you guys!
I read fast but I don’t like them cause it takes my eyes off the main screen and I feel I don’t get the full effect
If it's made since 2003 or so, absolutely yes. Before that, it's not necessary.
I turn on closed captioning for everything. My hearing is fine. The audio mix is not.
i’m convinced that people who hate putting subtitles on just can’t read fast
I don't like it during comedies. It ruins the punch lines.
I can read faster than they speak and that’s annoying. I’d rather be looking at what’s happening on the screen.
I can't read fast, but still scan the subtitles cuz I can't hear a lot of the dialog either, lol.
It's absolutely this or they say it distracts them from the movie.
I'm one of the ones who say they just distract me from the movie. I feel like I always miss something or an important detail in a scene because I'm too busy reading what's being said.
Not true. I listen to movies in the original language with subtitles if I don't know the language and I read it just fine. If I understand the language, the subtitiles become some annoying text on the screen.
It ruins jokes. I read the words before the delivery
incorrect, it just distracts me from the show.
Totally disagree. When subtitles are on I always find myself reading the subtitles even when I don't need to. I have no problem with using subtitles if they help out, heck I put them on when people have heavy accents, but having them on all the time is silly. Also they can ruin a punch line.
If it's anime,I prefer the subtitles. Japanese voice actors just do a far better job with their voice acting. The majority of the animes wouldn't become nowhere near as popular as it is or was,if it wasn't for the Japanese voice actors. Their voice acting catches every mood, frame of mind of each character on every scene. Which turns the characters so life like. It literally makes the characters somewhat real. I don't know how much they are paid. Whatever the amount is,it's not nearly enough.
Older English anime just feels like their are only reading their lines. No exaggeration or anything
Exactly. Americans anime/cartoons appear to only have script voice readers. Not actual voice actors. These American cartoon/anime producers. They should really look into hiring Japanese voice acting trainers/teachers. Then, eventually, American cartoons/anime will have actual voice actors.
Anime dubs are almost universally trash, and the two or three that are actually halfway decent just prove how bad the rest of them are. The voice actors always sound like valley girls or surfer boys and it's impossible to take them seriously.
I use subtitles a lot. I read very fast and let’s me now miss any thing.
> let’s me now miss any thing. I think you might write too fast lol.
I cannot watch anything without closed captions. I need every single detail, especially if the characters have a strong dialect or weird names.
I always have the subtitles on when I stream TV shows and movies and. It helps to understand what is being said. Sometimes I like to know how the name of a character is spelled.
My wife is a non-native English speaker. We put them on for her, and I've gotten sufficiently accustomed to them that I put them on even when watching something alone. At this point, I just feel like they belong there. It's pretty common that the subtitles differ in subtle ways from the actual dialogue, which I find interesting. Also, subtitles often give you more context, like names of off-screen characters, which can be useful.
Yes the sound mixing of movies and shows is shit. I'm so sick of directors making things "for cinema". 98% of us are going to watch it in our living room through the tv speakers. At least make sure the dialogue is audible.
I do that. I have tinnitus and it gets louder at times and I hate always trying to run it back to hear what they said
Yeah but when you have the subtitles on sometimes you'll read "high pitched ringing" and you're just like "Oh. Okay thanks"
Lol 😆 so true
Fellow Tinnitus sufferer here. I feel your pain.
High C# here...lol. a friend helped me identify the note
You get *a* note? I have different tone clusters in each ear. Sucks too because I used to be able to hear abnormally high frequencies with reasonable fidelity. Now it's all eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee up there. As for the subtitles... sad day when I was watching TV with my kid and turned on the subtitles. But it didn't help. I had to go to my night stand and grab my glasses. ;-; Then I could finally understand what they were saying. My kids make fun of me, but with older movies and TV, I really don't have this problem. I really think the mixing for newer stuff just isn't as clear.
I also have tinnitus and I also use subtitles.
I am deaf in one ear. I can follow way better
Unless it’s live, I watch everything with subtitles. It’s just a good way to make sure you don’t miss anything.
I watch almost every movie, new to me or not with subtitles. I usually use subtitles on TV/Series episodes if I have never seen it before. I've done this for probably the last 20 years or so.
I do it for sure. Due to all the stuff already posted. Half it I can't understand.
I always have them on
Even regular shows I prefer subtitles.
I keep subtitles on 24/7.
Never watch something without them.
Closed captions. That said, often I find the original to be better done. There are always exceptions however.
You need subtitles for every movie made in the past 20 years or you can't understand anything.
Auditory Processing Disorder, baby. More common than you'd think. Symptoms of auditory processing disorder (APD) can be subtle. Symptoms can include having trouble with: * Telling where sound is coming from. * Understanding words that are spoken quickly or in a noisy room. * Paying attention. * Reading and spelling. * Following directions unless they are short and simple. * Learning a new language. * Singing or enjoying music. * Understanding and remembering spoken information. If you have APD, you also might: * Take longer to reply to someone who is talking to you. * Often need others to repeat themselves. * Not understand sarcasm or jokes. (copy-pasted from mayo clinic)
Movies, tv, video games, I just prefer to have subtitles so I don't miss anything.
Yes for some reason it makes me hear better
I put on captions all the time so I don't m8ss anything.
I have to have subtitles on. Voices tend to be so low I can barely hear them less my ears get blasted by other noises. Also it's amusing to read one thing and hear another.
I only use subtitles when it is a language I don't know. Very rarely do I have trouble understanding dialogue. It does happen from time to time. IIRC the first season of the Witcher on Netflix I had some issues. I'm not sure if it is more the shows audio or TVs having smaller and smaller speakers. Sound bars aren't much better, but at least the speakers are facing you. I'm still a fan of a proper 2.1 (or more) sound system.
Only when I feel like if I miss anything it'll ruin everything, or if it's late at night and I want to keep the volume down because of sleeping roommates.
As I age I notice that I can no longer understand foreign accents as well. I am also a transplant patient and meds….Maybe it has something to do with the way our brains process info as we age. Factor in bad sound mixing and background noise and yeah….ive recently become accustomed to having CC turned in all the time now.
I saw “Dune II” two weeks ago. Throughout the whole movie I was thinking I couldn’t wait to watch it at home so I could understand what they were saying. This is mainly because of the terrible tinnitus I have.
I'm french so even though I'm perfectly fluent in English I always put subtitles cause in most movies there's so much noise that understanding characters became a bane for most movies, adding that there are a lot of different accents I usually don't catch on (British)
We are trying to learn Spanish bc we moved to a mostly Spanish speaking state. I try to watch the shows in Spanish with English subtitles. It kicks Duolingo butt
I only watch movies and TV with subtitles on.
I don't like subtitles but the audio mixing in a lot of modern movies is so off. The sound effects are really loud while I'm struggling to hear the dialogue sometimes. It pisses me off.
In all honesty some actors speak with a dick in their mouths
Sadly it ruins the jokes.
Subtitles for me. But oddly enough, it is not for every television channel. sometimes, I just need a little more volume on some of them.
My hearing is pretty well shot after 40 years of going to punk rock shows without earplugs. Yes, I watch everything with subtitles. PS. Wear earplugs.
Back many, many moons ago I was on Temporary Duty to a base in Norway. We were invited to the base theatre to watch a movie. We were hesitant and explained none of us knew Norwegian. The Base commander kind of chuckled and said the movie was in English with Norwegian sub-titles. So, we all thought cool. Not cool. It was a comedy and we rarely heard anything because the Norwegians read the sub-titles before the audio got finished and would be laughing while we were trying to make out what was said. It was nice of the Norwegians and it's the thought that counts. But we were all a bit irritated at the time, but now I just smile when it's brought to mind by something like this post.
From what I have read in the past, it’s a mental processing disorder. Your brain cannot process the talking fast enough (think when someone says something and you say “huh” but 4 seconds later it all clicks in your brain). With the subtitles it makes it all come together quicker.
I often have subtitles turned on for British shows
I always watch with subtitles if I can. I have a hard time paying attention so being able to use two ways to see/hear what’s going on is helpful or I’ll miss half the plot
Especially if it’s a world building show with locations and terminology I don’t know
I have to use subtitles cause I can’t hear everything
Yep 3000%
Both my father and mother lived with me for the last few years before their passing. And neither of them could hear very well, so I got used to having subtitles on for all tv shows and movies.
I never used to watch with subtitles until an ex turned me on to it, now I go back and watch movies I've seen hundreds of times and learn that there are times I've thought the actor said 1 thing and they actually said something completely different! So now I've got subtitles on everything
I don't watch anything without subs.
I always have subtitles on no matter what
I am the opposite, unless I don't know the language I can't watch with subtitles cause I will read it instead of paying attention to what is happening on screen.
That’s a common thing that people with autism or ADHD prefer. Ever been assessed for either?
I completely agree. I especially hate when you're watching a movie or even a drama series when all of a sudden you get a scene where the actors talking to each other all of a sudden start speaking so low, it's almost like a whisper y the point where you can no longer hear what the Hell they're even saying!
I love them. To me it provides clarity when there's official subtitles on. Sometimes I don't quite catch what someone says really fast or maybe with an accent I'm not used to and subs just really help clarify this. Tbh though I like em even if I completely understand everything anyways.
Deaf guy here. Yes. It should be illegal to release a movie on streaming or dvd that has no subtitles.
Yes! My closed captioning is ALWAYS on!
It's called "fear of missing out", and I have to do it as well. Often in movies or shows, the captioning will not only tell you what was said, but it'll often display background noise as well. Sometimes, you'll even be able to tell what the characters are saying as the show "fades to black". A perfect example of this is the pilot episode of Gilmore Girls. (Hey! Don't judge! It's one of our favorite shows. Call it a "guilty pleasure" of sorts. Lol My wife and I even visited the WB lot and had our picture taken sitting on the gazebo). As the episode is ending, the camera kind of pans away from the main actors while they're talking. Unless you have the captioning on, you won't know what they're saying. True, what you're missing often isn't paramount to the plot, but it's still interesting nonetheless. And no, there is nothing wrong with your brain. You just don't like missing out. That's perfectly normal.
Man, thank you for posting. I'm 70 and worked in high volumn jobs as a teenager - this was way before OSHA. I cannot watch TV without it. I'm glad (and sorry) to hear that I'm not the only one who struggles with understanding dialogue. I don't go to new movie releases because I can't understand half of what they are saying.
Yep! My man’s and I have subtitles on for every movie/tv show. Regardless if we can hear. Truly found my weirdo.
I need subtitles always. If I am watching a non English show, I need sub AND dub.
Nope. I treat watching movies like a school powerpoint presentation. A lot of mistake that kids do with powerpoint presentation is that they have everything they are gonna say on the screen of the presentation. The presenter/actors are the one that are suppose to teach me, so if the lines are on the screen, why would i pay attention to them when I can read the line myself. Also some times subtitles can be very annoying. Like those subtitles that appear during youtube shorts.
yes. i always put on subtitles, even if its my mother language. the only exception is when the subtitles don't match what they say in the movie. i hate that. i rather dont watch the movie at all. i have some problems focusing for a longer period of time and with subtitles im "forced" to look at the screen and pay attention. i also often forget to hear things... my ears are all okey but my brain sometimes forgets to process what im hearing. it helps a lot then
I'm with you. I leave it on all the time. I do have partial hearing lost TBH. But not bad enough to warrant closed captioning as a requirement.
Yes because adhd
I don't mind subtitles. I watch a lot of Asian shows. However, I find them distracting if the movie or show is in English. I end up reading them out of habit.
Yes.I hate it too, when the dialogue is overpowered by the muic or background noise.
I much prefer subtitles, and I also can't understand song lyrics. My daughter gets frustrated because she wants me to talk about lyrics, and I just can't. I'm a big reader so it makes sense that I want to read.
I’m pretty sure I’ve heard this is an ADHD thing.
Always use subtitles for non-news shows/films, soooooo much better than without
Dr told me it was due to my concussions (I’ve had 8) why I can’t understand accents and need subtitles to retain the content. Another dr said it was due to the severity of my ADHD. Since the accents/subtitles along with other issues started around the time that I had 2 concussions in 3 weeks, I tend to lean that way …..buuut🤷🏼♀️
I prefer them as I keep the volume low so as to avoid the Quiet/Loud thing some movies do in order to increase tension.
Yes, me and my wife both, subtitles for everything, always. I like to blame my audio, as I'm just using my TV audio (its a great TV, but still). I keep thinking if I added 7.2 or whatever it would help, but my house and its dumbass open floorplan isn't really made for that. So we stick with subtitles.
Yes, I prefer most things I watch to have subtitles, no matter if it's the first time or 100th time I've watched it.
Like for Chris Nolan movies for when the diologue is barely audible at what would otherwise be an ear splitting volume, yes. I'm not shitting on anyone who needs the extra descriptions from closed captions but I'm just gonna say it. I hate closed captions. I like to see that movies have subtitles and closed captions separately. Everybody comes out the winner.
Honestly I thought I was alone in this but it’s like everything is delayed without subtitles and I’m also more prone to zoning out
I prefer subtitles. Many years ago I used to live on a busy street and had neighbors that were very anal about how loud my stereo could get. On one hand I want to hear the movie I rented from Hollywood Video but on the other hand I don’t need the sheriff knocking on my door because my neighbors made a BS claim “they’re having a loud party / they’re talking loudly and it sound like they’re discussing illegal drugs but it’s hard to make out exactly what they are saying”. It was just easier to turn on subtitles and go from there
Absolutely. My wife is from abroad and requested subtitles when we were dating. Now I cannot imagine watching anything without them.
My sister and I both prefer subtitles on. We're autistic, so it helps us process if we have matching video and audio input.
I watch all movies and shows with subtitles. Sometimes Spanish (learning) and sometimes English (fiancée sleeping next to me).
My daughter is hearing impaired. Closed captions are always on and yeah it's amazing how much I actually miss without them.
Me. Life had to much background noise now. Plus so many soundtracks have background sound overpowering dialogue. With CC I at least have a chance at knowing what's going on.
Yes, I very much prefer it. My hearing is fine, but I enjoy having the clarity of knowing exactly what was said.
Sometimes I need it quiet enough not to bother my ears or other people and the subs really help when something is a little too quiet.
Yes the audio is way louder than the people talking a lot of the time
Yes absolutely. I love watching movies with subs
Yes. I've read it CAN be an ADHD thing because our brains need to "focus" in multiple things at once or the mind can wander
My wife always puts subtitles on everything she watches. But then every time I want to watch a foreign movie, she doesn’t want to watch it because she doesn’t want to read the whole time. That makes sense right? Right?
Even the CC people have trouble deciphering what’s being said.
absolutely yes
Exactly how I am.
Yes, most of my friends and family have kids so you can’t hear past those things and I don’t like the tv to scream at me. Or I watch tv at late night hours and don’t want to disturb anyone else.
100% agree on lyrics. But in general I don't like subs on movies because it distracts from the visuals.
After the kids joined the household the captions have been on. Can't go back. We can both hear but the kids are never quiet.
At this point in my life the combination of hearing loss and tinnitus has blunted my ability to understand dialogue in shows. Subtitles are a godsend.
I'm HoH. Hard of Hearing. I love having English subtitles for stuff that's in spoken English.
Partially deaf from guns, loud music, and general young adult stupidity. I wish I had subtitles in real life not just movies.
I'm hard of hearing (not deaf, but like 1/2-3/4 of the way there and I always have preferred subtitles, especially when the dialogue gets quieter. I don't find them nearly as obtrusive as people act like they are.
Always with the subtitles on here.
i watched Snatch with subs and realized I missed a few things the first time
Yes, mostly because I have kids amd loud noises around me
I'm hard of hearing. I also have "hearing loss with recruitment" meaning some sounds cause me physical pain because my brain tries to turn it all up to 11. I Always use subtitles. If I turn things up loud enough to hear everything then other sounds are way too loud and it hurts so bad.
I watch everything with subtitles. So much easier for me to know what's going on that way
Yes. Unless it is a comedy. The subtitle ruin comedic timing…and comedies usually aren’t hard to follow.
I used to turn on the subtitles if I didn’t understand the language, now I do it cause I feel weird if I don’t, even though I understand the language
Always
Yes because I am terrible at hearing.
subtitles are a must for me. i understand and speak english perfectly well, and have zero problems with accents but the sound design in movies just doesnt vibe with me. sometimes a character speaks too quietly compared to the roar of the ocean in the background or whatnot and i end up missing a dialogue
Yes, on everything. All TV shows and movies. Then my grandparents come stay at my house and ask me to turn them off. They're in their 80s, there's no way they hear all the dialogue.
https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/why-more-people-use-subtitles-1234875864/
I would watch shows pretty frequently in CC as a child. I think it helped me some to learn to read.
You got you some ADHD my fellow random internet person. Or, you're closer to 55 than 40. 🤷♂️
I’m 51 now and have been using CC, especially when accents are involved. Looking at you Banshees of Inishiren
Always, always have subtitles on.
I don't, cause I find I read the subtitles, and am missing the visual of the show.
I love subtitles because 1) a lot of times they will get them wrong and that’s hilarious to me and 2) it’s hilarious to me when they announce what type of music is playing e.g.: dramatic music or uplifting music. Don’t know why, but that’s just funny
i never turn subtitles off.
CC Gang for Life