| If you are one of the millions of people whose life gets | | | | which equals approximately 10% of other Americans. If |
| affected by television on a daily basis, you have | | | | 10% sounds like a small fraction of the country to you, |
| probably heard of captioning, but you probably take for | | | | consider this: how many friends and family members |
| granted the little blurb before your favorite show that | | | | of the heard of hearing would love to rent a movie or |
| refers to this captioning process. Yet, this addition to | | | | watch a television sitcom with a deaf sibling or friend? |
| the show serves a highly important purpose, providing | | | | This causes the number of people who benefit |
| opportunities for the hearing impaired to enjoy and to | | | | through captioning due to either direct or indirect |
| experience the same television programs that people | | | | physical hearing impairment to rise significantly. |
| with full hearing capacity hear. | | | | The lines separating the deaf from those who are not |
| Captioning, when done properly, provides information | | | | are blurring a little more every year. Opportunities are |
| beyond the normal script of dialogue. Did you ever | | | | becoming equally achievable for the hard of hearing |
| stop to think how perfectly the timing of the words | | | | and hearing impaired. There is even a Miss Deaf |
| flow when the closed captioning selection was turned | | | | America! Thankfully, one of the lines of communication |
| on? This is because captioning services listen syllable | | | | that undoubtedly links so many Americans together is |
| by syllable to enable exact quotes and transform them | | | | the television, made available to most through |
| to play in time to your programming. The captioning | | | | captioning. Although many argue the large amounts of |
| process is truly an art form, which although serves | | | | television in American lives is a mistake, no one can |
| several helpful purposes to anyone and several places | | | | argue that television does cross borders, uniting all |
| where sound is not available, captioning first and | | | | types of people through the spread of information. |
| foremost serves the deaf who cannot alone hear the | | | | With captioning, the hearing impaired are made part of |
| programs while simultaneously reading the captioning | | | | this togetherness. Only first made possible in the 1970's, |
| together. Relying more heavily on captioning, the | | | | surprisingly captioning has only been a part of |
| process truly is a guiding hand for the educational and | | | | American lives for less than 40 years. Every decade |
| entertainment value of television and film for the millions | | | | advances are made to decrease the separations |
| who everyday overcome the hindrances that come | | | | more between deaf and those who are not. To |
| hand-in-hand with hearing loss. | | | | continue this process, the captioning industry must |
| Yes, millions of Americans face these challenges. | | | | continue to hold a high standard. Producers and |
| According to the National Association of the Deaf, | | | | broadcasters need to ensure captioning and aim for |
| over 28 million Americans are hard of hearing or deaf, | | | | only the best results. |