In 2005, Gallaudet University provided details for the number of Americans with a hearing loss. The results vary depending on how you interpret hearing loss.

About 2 to 4 of every 1,000 people in the US are “functionally deaf.” If including severe hearing impairment are included, 9 to 22 out of 1,000. If any kind of “trouble” with hearing is included, 37 to 140 out of 1,000.

There’s a element to the final tally, Gallaudet states this increases due to “a large share being at least 65 years old.” How many 65 year old individuals do you know cutting the cord and using the Internet as their sole source of entertainment? My mother has expressed interest, though I think the willingness to adapt and change could be what’s slowing her down.

Meanwhile, organizations like Netflix had a great opportunity to start their catalog entirely with captioning. Though it decided to be reactive than proactive, now they have agreed to play catch-up at an even faster rate.

When most visitors to our home watch TV, one of the first questions is, “Can you turn off the captioning?” I don’t even notice it anymore, for the last eight years it’s been a staple of our entertainment. I’m resistant to the request and it’s an absolute no-no if my wife is home.

While it’s a convenience for some, roughly 17%, the remaining majority views it as an inconvenience.

When I watch TV with captioning, I spend more time reading than watching!

OK?

You’ll understand more. It can help improve your reading ability. You’ll catch something that you otherwise wouldn’t have.

The next time you watch a show streamed, turn on captioning. Some services are aces when it comes to the tools they have implemented. While others leave something to be desired. I think the major problem encountered by these services is their interpretation of how viewers are watching the content.

Desktop or big screen?

That shouldn’t prevent the service from providing the proper tools for user’s situation.

So here goes, to give you an idea of our setup, it’s a Mac mini connected to a 37" TV. Our main viewing couch faces the TV directly and sits roughly 12' from the center of the TV. I setup our camera on a tripod to snap as consistent a photo as I could—this is not a scientific experiment.

One note to point out, if you can read the captioning in the images without enlarging the photos, you would read it on the TV. Read notes for further details.

Here are thirteen services…

The Daily Show via Hulu.com (Good)

The Daily Show via thedailyshow.com (Good)

Netflix (Good)

60 Minutes (Bad)

CBS Evening News (Bad)

ABC Family (Bad)

Fox News (No comment)

FOX (Almost Good)

NBC News (Bad)

NBC (Good)

PBS (Good)

Amazon Prime (Good)

What I struggle to determine is how the major corporations do not cooperate across the owned networks. A license to use X brand of captioning, or streaming package entirely, is agreed upon for each individual network resulting in a different delivery of goods.

My wife has been extremely patient with our three year endeavor cutting the cord after growing up watching TV without captioning. Internal decoders were not required until 1993 while the service providers were not required until 1996.

Could you imagine watching Home Alone and not knowing precisely what was happening because captioning was not required? Home Alone was released in 1990.

And now for some random photos…

ABC Family

FOX

FOX