Watching Television

Deaf people enjoy television, just like hearing people do. But if you can't hear, the program will often not be understandable. To help deaf people understand what the people on TV are saying, they can use "closed captioning." Closed captions are words which are printed out right on the TV picture. So the words of actors in movies and the reporters on the news are printed right on the screen, either across the top or the bottom of the screen where deaf people can read them. Closed captions can come from a box which is connected to the TV set, or from special circuits inside the TV.

Closed captioning is not perfect, though. Spoken words, shouted words, and whispered words are all printed the same way. So the deaf have to imagine the people's emotions.

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