title: Parameters in television captioning for deaf and hard-of-hearing adults: effects of caption rate versus text reduction on comprehension.
abstract: Caption rate and text reduction are factors that appear to affect the comprehension of captions by people who are deaf or hard of hearing. These 2 factors are confounded in everyday captioning; rate (in words per minute) is slowed by text reduction. In this study, caption rate and text reduction were manipulated independently in 2 experiments to assess any differential effects and possible benefits for comprehension by deaf and hard-of-hearing adults. Volunteers for the study included adults with a range of reading levels, self-reported hearing status, and different communication and language preferences. Results indicate that caption rate (at 130, 180, 230 words per minute) and text reduction (at 84%, 92%, and 100% original text) have different effects for different adult users, depending on hearing status, age, and reading level. In particular, reading level emerges as a dominant factor: more proficient readers show better comprehension than poor readers and are better able to benefit from caption rate and, to some extent, text reduction modifications.
authors: MARCS Auditory Laboratories, University of Western Sydney, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith South DC, New South Wales 1797, Australia. d.burnham@uws.edu.au
authors: Denis
authors: D
authors: Burnham
authors: Greg
authors: G
authors: Leigh
authors: William
authors: W
authors: Noble
authors: Caroline
authors: C
authors: Jones
authors: Michael
authors: M
authors: Tyler
authors: Leonid
authors: L
authors: Grebennikov
authors: Alex
authors: A
authors: Varley
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003071:Cognition; D003142:Communication; D003638:Deafness / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019986:Persons with Hearing Disabilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013690:Television