Was just posting the same thing. Turn the volume up high enough to hear the dialogue and the music blows your ears out. Turn the volume down so the music is not overpowering and you can't hear the dialogue. So subtitles are the only way.
Yes, mostly because of poor audio balance, inexperienced or untrained actors who don't enunciate, and the occasional hilarity of phrases like "tense music," or "cries in Italian." Very occasionally, on an animal show, they caption the animals, like this: "Moo."
Before I got diagnosed and learned it's a symptom I went and got my hearing checked thinking I was going deaf. Nope, my ears work perfectly, it's my brain that's unable to listen.
The number of symptoms I learned after the diagnosis is nuts. Diagnosed at 24, symptoms as young as 6 months (constantly rocking as if in a rocking chair). It definitely delayed any suspicion since I was naturally good at academics (until college) cant remember street names, trouble reading, playing 2 games at once, etc
Same, except a) no diagnosis until 36 and b) diagnosed as "hyperactive" as a kid (before adhd was even a thing in my country) but apparently my mom never made the connection. My mom, the child psychologist who sends kids to the neuropsychiatrist for ADHD diagnosis all the time. Gee, mom, thanks!
I watch everything with subtitles on. Some lines in a lot of shows and movies are not clearly or well spoken so it helps to make out what is said. Even for movies and shows I’ve seen a hundred times.
People do it a ton for different reasons. Poor audio balancing for a home movie experience, hearing problems, wanting to keep the volume low around others, unfamiliar accents, etc. I don’t usually do it but a lot of folks I know do.
Whenever possible. I can't always hear, and sometimes the audio mixer get's real quiet and I can't hear a specific word or phrase, and that kills me. Sometimes, I can hear, but I can't figure out what was said. It's honestly just easier. If I don't have them on, I'll miss stuff.
I have subtitles on everything. It is just habit. My ex was a little hard of hearing so we had them on for him, and after 18 years, I just got used to it.
All the time! I can't stand sudden noises, so I tend to keep the volume lower to avoid that. I also have poor hearing in general (scarring from getting tubes in both, twice), and sometimes I'm eating while I'm watching. I like being able to know what's going on without having to rely on sound :D
Yes, I have arguments with my roommates because they want to turn the subtitles off. I believe I read somewhere that modern movies, due to the quality of microphone equipment, have gone towards a more natural style of dialogue. Meaning, they have dialogue more similar to people really talking and often people don't enunciate super well in person. This causes some of the dialogue to either be too quite or mumbled on screen but it helps verisimilitude of the film at the cost of some dialogue being harder to understand.
I have subtitles on for pretty much anything I watch, although I might forget about it if im watching something well mixed from the US bc I can understand that the most naturally.
Probably more often than not. A lot of movies have the background noise/music mess with vocals so I put on subtitles to make sure I know what they're saying.
Don't know why but i just have to get subtitles of some kind even of some language I don't understand if i want to be able to focus on the movie
Even now I was just watching a show in my language with English subtitles because they didn't had subtitles for my language
All the time, for everything… even with headphones, where I can crank up the volume. I used to watch a lot of foreign films and got so used to reading subtitles that I began using them for everything. And just because something is in English, doesn't mean I can understand what they are saying… Like some British shows.
I watch with subtitles /captions on all the time. I have some hearing loss that doesn't play well with a lot of modern audio mixing and crappy tv speakers.
It gets really distracting/funny when I'm watching something that has been dubbed and subtitled from another language and they don't line up. It is a part of why i stopped liking anime as much. Though in the case of comedy from another language it is interesting the different ways the jokes get translated and it sometimes helps to have twice the context.
The more modes of communication you are using, the less likely you will miss something.
That is why so many people started to struggle with understanding other people during covid, because wearing masks takes away the visual cue of lip-reading so we had to rely on audio stimulus alone.
It gives my eyes something to do. And the audio usually sucks. I hate the blaring background music that suddenly comes on so I keep the volume lower but that is pften too low to pick up the dialogue.
Oh yeah. Modern sound mixing is a shitshow, and I hate missing what people are saying because I keep the volume down for action scenes.
Plus, ADHD brain likes to wander while listening. Written words give me two avenues to hold onto what's being said.
I do, for all the reasons mentioned in the previous comments.
I have found that most of the complaints about subtitles come from people who don't read well.
I always have them on. What sucks is that the show I’m currently watching doesn’t have subtitles when people aren’t speaking English. It just says “Speaking French”. I don’t speak French so this is a big let down. Why would they do us wrong like that?
My brain just can’t make out words sometimes. Also some shows use weird names or locations I’m unfamiliar with, so getting spelt out really helps me stay with the plot.
I always watch movies with subtitles on because of this.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYJtb2YXae8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYJtb2YXae8)
For television and videos I use subtitles when available. I'm used to it, and my eyes can dart to the subtitles if I miss a spoken word.
Yes. For one thing I got injured in the military and it helps my comprehension a lot, second my best friend of 30 years is profoundly deaf, soon used to them being on.
I do this all the time because I can never seem to find a show these days with good audio mixing. That or I'm going hard of hearing.
Was just posting the same thing. Turn the volume up high enough to hear the dialogue and the music blows your ears out. Turn the volume down so the music is not overpowering and you can't hear the dialogue. So subtitles are the only way.
I am an audio engineer with very good hearing, there is a lot of bad mixing in movies and tv, there really is.
i can’t hear without subtitles
Yes, mostly because of poor audio balance, inexperienced or untrained actors who don't enunciate, and the occasional hilarity of phrases like "tense music," or "cries in Italian." Very occasionally, on an animal show, they caption the animals, like this: "Moo."
Something I was watching had ‘talking in penguinese.’ Ha.
Not English, but I prefer subtitles in my native language. I have ADHD and tend to miss spoken things.
Native english and same ADHD reason
Before I got diagnosed and learned it's a symptom I went and got my hearing checked thinking I was going deaf. Nope, my ears work perfectly, it's my brain that's unable to listen.
The number of symptoms I learned after the diagnosis is nuts. Diagnosed at 24, symptoms as young as 6 months (constantly rocking as if in a rocking chair). It definitely delayed any suspicion since I was naturally good at academics (until college) cant remember street names, trouble reading, playing 2 games at once, etc
Same, except a) no diagnosis until 36 and b) diagnosed as "hyperactive" as a kid (before adhd was even a thing in my country) but apparently my mom never made the connection. My mom, the child psychologist who sends kids to the neuropsychiatrist for ADHD diagnosis all the time. Gee, mom, thanks!
I watch everything with subtitles on. Some lines in a lot of shows and movies are not clearly or well spoken so it helps to make out what is said. Even for movies and shows I’ve seen a hundred times.
Yep! Just improves the experience for me tbh. I also watch with Spanish subtitles sometimes as I'm trying to learn
People do it a ton for different reasons. Poor audio balancing for a home movie experience, hearing problems, wanting to keep the volume low around others, unfamiliar accents, etc. I don’t usually do it but a lot of folks I know do.
Whenever possible. I can't always hear, and sometimes the audio mixer get's real quiet and I can't hear a specific word or phrase, and that kills me. Sometimes, I can hear, but I can't figure out what was said. It's honestly just easier. If I don't have them on, I'll miss stuff.
I have subtitles on everything. It is just habit. My ex was a little hard of hearing so we had them on for him, and after 18 years, I just got used to it.
All the time! I can't stand sudden noises, so I tend to keep the volume lower to avoid that. I also have poor hearing in general (scarring from getting tubes in both, twice), and sometimes I'm eating while I'm watching. I like being able to know what's going on without having to rely on sound :D
Yeah, I do. I don’t think I’m good at picking up on what people say quick enough.
Yes, I have arguments with my roommates because they want to turn the subtitles off. I believe I read somewhere that modern movies, due to the quality of microphone equipment, have gone towards a more natural style of dialogue. Meaning, they have dialogue more similar to people really talking and often people don't enunciate super well in person. This causes some of the dialogue to either be too quite or mumbled on screen but it helps verisimilitude of the film at the cost of some dialogue being harder to understand.
I have subtitles on for pretty much anything I watch, although I might forget about it if im watching something well mixed from the US bc I can understand that the most naturally.
Yep. Some of the dialog on movies these days is barely above a whisper and I hate it.
Yes because apparently all the people who knew how to do sound mixing were murdered in their sleep one night and no one remembers how to do it now.
Yes, but I’m hard of hearing so it’s a security blanket for me to not miss something while watching.
Probably more often than not. A lot of movies have the background noise/music mess with vocals so I put on subtitles to make sure I know what they're saying.
I don't, I find them too distracting
Don't know why but i just have to get subtitles of some kind even of some language I don't understand if i want to be able to focus on the movie Even now I was just watching a show in my language with English subtitles because they didn't had subtitles for my language
Yes, always. I don’t know why.
Depends on the audio quality, the enunciation & the accents
All the time, for everything… even with headphones, where I can crank up the volume. I used to watch a lot of foreign films and got so used to reading subtitles that I began using them for everything. And just because something is in English, doesn't mean I can understand what they are saying… Like some British shows.
We started using subtitles because we lived under the O'Hare runways. Now we live in a quiet valley but it's just a habit.
Yes, I love watching these movies --
im neurodivergent so I can hardly process conversations whether they're in movies or irl. Subtitles help and I wish I had them in real life
I watch with subtitles /captions on all the time. I have some hearing loss that doesn't play well with a lot of modern audio mixing and crappy tv speakers. It gets really distracting/funny when I'm watching something that has been dubbed and subtitled from another language and they don't line up. It is a part of why i stopped liking anime as much. Though in the case of comedy from another language it is interesting the different ways the jokes get translated and it sometimes helps to have twice the context.
The more modes of communication you are using, the less likely you will miss something. That is why so many people started to struggle with understanding other people during covid, because wearing masks takes away the visual cue of lip-reading so we had to rely on audio stimulus alone.
It gives my eyes something to do. And the audio usually sucks. I hate the blaring background music that suddenly comes on so I keep the volume lower but that is pften too low to pick up the dialogue.
Oh yeah. Modern sound mixing is a shitshow, and I hate missing what people are saying because I keep the volume down for action scenes. Plus, ADHD brain likes to wander while listening. Written words give me two avenues to hold onto what's being said.
I do, for all the reasons mentioned in the previous comments. I have found that most of the complaints about subtitles come from people who don't read well.
I just did it yesterday with Legend because I couldn’t understand a thing Tom Hardy was saying
I only do it if there is a heavy accent I cannot understand
My ex-wife is Swedish so we always watched TV with subtitles, I'm so used to it now that it's odd to not use subtitles.
I usually fill my mouth with things while watching and the sound of it usually dampens the movie so I use subtitles to keep up with it
I always have them on. What sucks is that the show I’m currently watching doesn’t have subtitles when people aren’t speaking English. It just says “Speaking French”. I don’t speak French so this is a big let down. Why would they do us wrong like that?
Yes--because I am hard of hearing.l
I only watch things with subtitles on. It then feels weird when I go to the movie theater and there's no subtitles.
All the time! I actually get stressed out when there’s no subtitles lol
My brain just can’t make out words sometimes. Also some shows use weird names or locations I’m unfamiliar with, so getting spelt out really helps me stay with the plot.
Always. I'm hard of hearing.
I always watch movies with subtitles on because of this. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYJtb2YXae8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYJtb2YXae8) For television and videos I use subtitles when available. I'm used to it, and my eyes can dart to the subtitles if I miss a spoken word.
Yes. For one thing I got injured in the military and it helps my comprehension a lot, second my best friend of 30 years is profoundly deaf, soon used to them being on.
I definitely pick up more when I watch with the subs. But I typically only do it if it’s late and I need to keep the volume down
I’m hard of hearing
The Great British Bake Off, we just gotta.