Television has been around for a while now, entertaining Americans up and down the country, however for many it was simply a silent movie. In the year 1985, there were 21.2 million people who suffered from some form of hearing disability, which made up 9 percent of the entire American 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 organization has created subtitles for countless films which are available for viewing at home. We find that the percentage of closed captioned shows is approximately 12 or 13 percent, when we consider a six major station market, with each station having 18 hours of programming daily. Of these closed captioned shows, one third are shows for children.
Network executives, programmers and producers are all requested by this organization to provide captions for their programming. Easier said than done in some cases. Sometimes the network directors don’t realize how many people they are missing by not using closed captioning on their programs. They didn’t really take this population into consideration when they were designing their programs.
One factor that does not appeal to networks and producers is the fact that only around one million people make up the closed captioning audience. Those numbers have been based on the information from the decoder, which makes it possible for people in 150,000 homes to see the captioning. And this number is supposed to rise by 30,000 by the end of this year.
This kind of situation is a kind of catch-22, as the quantity of captioned programs will increase the viewer ship, which in turn alters the quantity of programs which are captioned. The standard cost for closed captioning of a one hour show is between $ 1,500 and $ 2,200. This price changes depending on how complex the script of the show is, and the amount of time spent on creating the captions.
In the case of material which has been prerecorded, a decision must be made as to when the caption should come on the screen, and the duration of the time it remains to allow viewers the ability to read it. Programs that feature a lot of action sequences can be captioned more quickly. As an example, the script for a movie like “Raiders of the Lost Ark” calls for a different amount of subtitles than “A Man for All Seasons.”
While some of these programs receive their funding entirely from the Department of Education, some corporations, and the public broadcasting service, many others are being subsidized by various foundations or NCI. Many foundations will pay for a certain amount of the captioning expenses, providing that other institutions provide some money as well. The trouble with bringing in deaf audiences is two pronged, firstly people need the decoder and secondly public awareness is a hindrance. The decoder cost %280 in 1980 when it was first introduced. Today it’s often less than $ 250 and usually averages $ 200.
Grants from foundations or corporations can help provide decoders for low income deaf or hearing impaired Americans who might not otherwise be able to pay. We also have programs running in many major cities to help people who need the decoder be able to get it for $ 35, while hoping continual improvements in technology will bring the cost low enough to entice TV manufacturers to build a model with the decoder capacity installed, the same way they have built in stereo capability.
Hearing impaired Americans are at a double disadvantage, not only because of their disability but because there are no obvious outward signs of the disability. 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. Along with the obvious benefits that closed captioning brings to people with hearing impairment and deafness, it also allows for a uniting of families.
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