Reading television: The cognitive experience of closed-captioned TV

We watch TV with subtitles a lot these days. It’s like reading television.[rustling leaves]

Actually, we watch a lot of closed captioned (CC) TV. In addition to the already-subtitled productions (translating non-English films) we started by turning on closed-captioning for those highly-accented British period pieces or procedurals (where you know it’s English but just can’t get in the rhythm).[footsteps approaching]

Intended for the hearing challenged (which, increasingly, we are becoming!) the optional closed captions (as opposed to open captions, which are automatically visible) add audio track descriptions in addition to dialog; they classify soundtrack music (which are not even close to running out of adjectives, see [dramatic musical sting]* below) and pick up distance noise, or off screen sounds, turning it all into words. In italics.
[dog barking in distance]

CC’s are one way for couples to avoid a life of DVR/Streaming rewinds because one or the other didn’t catch something. It’s better than both wearing headphones, which is a bit more isolation than any of us need at the moment. There are now, in cinemas (but soon at home?) closed caption glasses! Words in green float in front of the wearer (at an adjustable distance!) to narrate the action and…