Foundations And Corporations Can Help With Closed Captioning

Many Americans alive today can't remember a time when your primary source of entertainment wasn't the TV, which supplies a steady stream of shows, movies and news right to your home; though for millions of Americans, that entertainment option has been nothing more than one long pantomime. The most recent estimate given puts nine percent of the United States population, or some 21.2 million people, as being deaf or hearing impaired, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. These days the hearing impaired can watch some of their favorite prime time shows and all the presidential debates because of closed captioning.

The government created an organization in 1979 to provide a majority of the subtitles and closed captioning that we now see on television. This organization has helped to provide subtitles that enable the hearing impaired to enjoy thousands of movies as well on video. One way to explain it is like this; out of six stations that show 18 hours worth of programs a day, only 12 or 13 percent of them offer closed captioning. In addition, at least one third of all the captioned programs available are for children.

A major part of this organization's work is convincing programmers, producers, and the network executives to make sure their programs are captioned. Sadly, that's not such an easy job to do. Some of these network heads are just realizing how many people they can reach through the beauty of closed captioning. However, usually after they are contacted and are confronted with the needs of the hearing impaired public, they become more interested.

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. This number focuses on the decoder - the device which allows people to see these closed captions, which can be found on about 150,000 television sets. However, they expect that number to rise by some 30,000 by the end of the year.

It seems the number of programs which are captioned is influential as to the number of viewers who tune in, which in turn influences how many programs are subtitled. For a single hour of programming, the cost of closed captioning is anywhere from $1,500 to $2,200. Other variables that affect the total cost include how much time producers have to add the captions as well as the difficulty of the program's script.

In the case of material which has been recorded previously, a captioner needs to decide exactly how long each caption appears on the screen in order to maximize readability. Action films for obvious reasons are easier to caption. Creating subtitles for "Miami Vice" will take less time than creating subtitles for "The Lion in Winter".

Some of the funds for closed captioning are provided by the Department of Education, as well as other corporations like the public broadcasting service. A deal may be struck which will call for the network to pay a third of the cost, you pay a third of the cost, and we will, then, pay a third of the cost. Part of the problem in achieving the needed audience size is public awareness, as well as part of it being the decoder. The decoder originally cost $280 when it was introduced in 1980. Currently, most devices are under $250, on average.

Corporations and foundations help with grants to allow low income hearing impaired and deaf individuals to have decoders in their homes. Programs are currently being run in major cities to reduce the cost of the decoder to as low as $35. The goal ultimately is, that with the cost of technology reduced enough, television manufacturers would be encouraged to provide at least one model with the decoder already built in much the same way as is stereo capability.

Suffering from a hearing impairment is like having an invisible disability for many Americans. The deaf and hard of hearing may become isolated within a culture of their own primarily because they are the largest of the physically disabled groups in the country, but with a disability which is not visible. 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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