Low-Income Deaf and Hearing Impaired Americans are Able to Receive Closed Caption Decoders for Television Viewing
Television has provided information, excitement and entertainment to American families
for over thirty years, but for many people, the sounds of the television simply could not be heard. In 1985 approximately 9% of the American population was hearing impaired, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Today, due to the advent of closed captioning, hearing impaired or deaf people are able to watch and understand what is being said in over half of prime time shows and even during presidential debates.One organization, founded by the government in the year 1979, captions over 90 percent of the programs that are available. This same group has also done the subtitles for thousands of movies that are now available on videotape or DVD's. In a survey conducted over eighteen hours and across six television stations, around 13% of all programming provided closed captioning. Children's shows comprise about one third of these closed captions.
This government organization works with network execs, programmers and TV producers to provide closed captioning for their programming. Easier said than done in some cases. Some of these network heads are just realizing how many people they can reach through the beauty of closed captioning. It seems they didn't exactly realize what the hearing impaired needed in order to enjoy television.
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. The decoder is necessary to permit individuals to view the captions, and the above number is calculated based on 150,000 homes equipped with decoders. And that number is anticipated to go up at least by 30,000 by the end of this year.
It's like the old chicken and egg question - the more shows that allow closed captioning, the more viewers you'll have using closed captioning, and so the more shows the networks will decide to close caption. The standard cost for closed captioning of a one hour show is between $1,500 and $2,200. Also influencing the cost are such variables as how long it takes to produce those captions as well as how difficult the script is.
When the program has been prerecorded, the caption has to be timed on when it should appear, as well as how long it should stay visible so the viewer can read it. It doesn't take as long to caption an action film as it does other things. It's a different process to provide captioning for Raiders of the Lost Ark than 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. Most of the time the funds are split into three parts, with each organization paying their part to caption the program. The smaller size of the closed captioning audience has been influenced by two factors: cost of the decoder and lack of public awareness. When decoders were first introduced in 1980, they cost $280. The average is now just about $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. 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.
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. Those who are hearing impaired are the most prominent group of disabled citizens within the US, but because this issue is not as obvious as others, they tend to become 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.
Low-Income Deaf and Hearing Impaired Americans are Able to Receive Closed Caption Decoders for Television Viewing
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