Theoretical background of the addressed issue
People with hearing impairments are a specific marginalized group in our society. In society itself they face communication and information barriers, which is one of the reasons for their exclusion from majority society. In our contribution we focus on a specific area, namely subtitles for people with hearing impairments, and their significance for this group with specific needs.
At the outset, it is necessary to define the basic terms related to the topic of people with hearing impairments. Deaf people primarily use sign language as their main means of communication, through which they obtain information in the form most suitable for them. Sign language is a natural and fully formed visual-motor communicative system of Deaf people with its own sign repertoire and is not dependent on the grammar of spoken language. 1 Slovak in spoken or written form is for people with hearing impairments the second language and is a “foreign” language to them, just as English is a foreign language for hearing people. In the communication of deaf people there are certain specific characteristics, among which we can list the following:
- Deaf people use shorter texts.
- Deaf people use short sentences (83.7%) instead of complex sentences (16.3%).
- Deaf people often repeat words.
- Deaf people use primarily declarative sentences.
- Deaf people often omit words and sentences.
- Deaf people frequently make errors in prepositional cases.
- Deaf people do not master word-formation rules.
- Direct speech is absent in deaf people’s production. 2
These problems that we named, related to grammar of written and spoken language, can also be attributed to the fact that Deaf people lack acoustic language perception from childhood. As Tarcsiová notes, one study reports that the reading skills and written output of 18-year-old Deaf people reaches the level of 10-year-old hearing children. 3 Reading with comprehension is one of the conditions of functional literacy and is simultaneously one of the educational goals for Deaf people. 3 Hence subtitled programs are also considered one of the tools for developing functional literacy, both writing and reading comprehension.
Providing subtitles is one of the conditions for creating equal opportunities and enabling people with disabilities, in our case specifically people with hearing impairments, to participate in social life, especially in the cultural sphere. As coherent policy states, subtitling of television programs and their translation into sign language, as an integrated policy measure, is where this principle is applied. 4 The first attempts to create subtitles for people with hearing impairments date back to the 1970s, while in the 1980s audiovisual texts and audiovisual translation began to be characterized as a specific type of communication. On Slovak territory, the first television channel that voluntarily launched a few subtitled broadcasts at the end of the 1990s was TV Markíza. 5 Further broadcasts accompanied by subtitles were in later years directly regulated by law.
Subtitled programs represent a significant breakthrough for people with hearing impairments. People with hearing impairments are exposed to the written form of spoken language and this supports natural literacy development from childhood. In this context the term “television literacy” has begun to be used. 6 Subtitling is therefore rightly considered a form of debarrierization and a reduction of the information barrier for people with hearing impairments. It is nevertheless important to point out the audience of subtitles, in this case people with hearing impairments. The difference in subtitles for people with hearing impairments is that, due to hearing loss, they are not able to perceive sounds occurring during the program’s action, and therefore it is technically necessary to supplement such information into subtitles in an appropriate form, and thereby create a full subtitling text, provided the conditions for quality subtitles are met.
As mentioned, subtitles for people with hearing impairments must meet certain specific standards, which we will outline in the next section. The subtitles themselves are mostly placed at the lower part of the screen, while satisfying specific conditions. Among attributes for creating subtitles, we include the following:
- subtitle length
As the most suitable, also considering other subtitle specifics, one-line subtitles are generally considered best. Usually two-line subtitles are created, also because additional information is added in parentheses (the phone is ringing, a glass falls to the floor, a door slams, indication of an internal monologue of a character, etc.), which gives meaning to the plot and understanding for a Deaf viewer. The text is center-aligned and the maximum number of characters in one line is 36. 7 - time subtitles remain on screen
Each line of subtitles should remain on the screen for 3 seconds, the second line for 1–2 seconds. - subtitle color
Subtitles use multiple colors to distinguish speakers during dialogue. Subtitles are displayed on a dark background and the font color contrasts with the background. Font color cannot be red, purple, or gray, and no more than five colors may be used in one program. 8 The colors mentioned above were tested and marked as unsuitable and should not be used. This conclusion arose because in the past, when red and purple colors were used in subtitles, complaints were raised as television receivers displayed these colors nonstandardly, and after that all colors were brought into compliance.9 - subtitle font size
The size of subtitles should be such that it does not disrupt the visual part of the program while remaining readable for people with hearing impairments. - font type
As fonts, Times New Roman and Arial are used. The font is simple; italics and bold are used to emphasize direct speech or commentary. 10 For example, if a person is not on screen but is speaking, their name is indicated in uppercase letters followed by a colon. If subtitle shortening is necessary, the edited text must not disrupt or distort the meaning of the spoken word. 11
Methodology
The contribution presents theoretical knowledge from the field of subtitling for people with hearing impairments. In the empirical dimension it also offers the results of a survey carried out in 2011–2012 by an expert team, of which the author of the paper was also a part; this research was presented at a student university professional activity. 12 Despite the theoretical concept of the paper, we established the following subject and object of study.
The object of study in the theoretical foundations is communication and information barriers, the impact of subtitled programs on literacy development, and specific features in subtitles for people with hearing impairments.
The object of study within the empirical input is the current state of resolving the issue of subtitling for people with hearing impairments.
The object of study in the theoretical foundations is: common traits of definitions of sign language, barriers in the lives of Deaf people, problems of Deaf refugees.
As the object of study we determined public-law providers of subtitles and subtitled programs for people with hearing impairments. The selection was purposive, in order to compare with legal conditions that impose obligations only on public-law providers.
Current state of implementing closed captions for people with hearing impairments
Based on the theoretical output, we present practical experiences with subtitled programs for people with hearing impairments.
In 2011, through the coordination team, research on the accessibility of subtitles and subtitled programs for people with hearing impairments in public broadcasting (Slovak Television, hereafter RTVS) and in theaters in the Slovak Republic began.
The aim of that survey was:
- increasing awareness of Deaf people’s rights, particularly in television and theater
- monitoring fulfillment of hearing-impaired persons’ human rights in Slovakia
- processing monitoring of subtitles and subtitled programs on STV and theaters
- supporting cooperation among RTVS, theaters, and organizations working with Deaf people
The survey contained two components of observation: RTVS and theaters. In the research the focus was on specific elements affecting the quality and comprehension of individual subtitled television programs and theatrical performances. The reason for choosing RTVS as one object of observation rather than another television station was the fact that, by law, the public broadcaster is required to subtitle 25% of its programs.
For public broadcaster RTVS programs, the research focused on those programs that the broadcaster itself labeled as subtitled programs on its website. The research lasted three months and was carried out by 10 hearing members of the observation team. Although the coordination team tried to involve Deaf observers, this was not possible, because Deaf people cannot objectively assess the correlation of spoken speech in the program with that program’s subtitles. In the survey, the observation team focused on the following points included in the observation sheet:
- genre of the aired television program
- age suitability of the television program
- subtitling speed
- comprehensibility of subtitles
- color differentiation of subtitles
- supplementary information
For theaters, 31 theaters were invited, including 4 state theaters and 27 non-state theaters. Ultimately, 17 theaters participated in the study—4 state and 13 non-state theaters. Each theater received an email with a request to fill out a questionnaire along with exact instructions. Monitoring in theaters was conducted by two staff members; in case of disagreement in completing the questionnaire, this was subsequently discussed with the theaters. The questionnaire was converted into tabular form, and within the questionnaire each theater had, in advance from the coordination team, its listed plays, based on published performances on that theater’s website. The theater then marked from those productions which were and were not made accessible for people with hearing impairments. If a theater had a performance accessible to people with hearing impairments, it continued filling out the questionnaire under the following points:
- language of the performance
- method of accessibility for people with hearing impairments
- non-verbal performance
- subtitled performance
- interpreted performance
- technology (induction loop)
- other
Based on the conducted research, the observation team reached the following results. During the three-month observation, 798 programs of STV1 and STV2 were assessed. The results pointed to the fact that among genres, the most subtitled programs were news broadcasts (32%), series (30.6%) and documentary films (15.3%). Suitability of subtitled programs, according to the assessment, was at 84%. A shortcoming in this area was the small number of programs for children and unsuitable programs such as music programs. 373 subtitled programs were rated positively. As shortcomings in subtitled programs, errors were reported, such as missing continuity of subtitles. Specifically, this involved missing first parts of sentences, with subtitles appearing only in the second part of the sentence, so the text did not correlate with the image. Also, abbreviations appeared in subtitles that were not explained in advance, and this reduced the meaning of the subtitled text.
Shortcomings in subtitling speed were evident in two main areas. The first error was the short amount of time subtitles remained on screen, and the second was delayed subtitles, resulting in loss of meaning and understanding of the visual content of the program.
Color differentiation of subtitles was observed in 44.1% of programs. A troubling fact, however, was that only 18% of subtitled programs contained supplementary information (knocking on a door, siren noise, a glass falling to the floor), which complement and complete the meaning of the television program.
The observation team assessed positively the program “Dámsky klub,” which was directly interpreted into sign language.
On the basis of these results, the following practical recommendations were implemented:
- increasing the number of television programs for children
- cooperation of hearing and Deaf people in subtitle production
- improvement of the qualitative part of subtitles—subtitle timing
- improvement of subtitle speed adherence
- adding supplementary information in subtitled programs
- subtitle comprehensibility—consultation with people with hearing impairments
Since this work focuses primarily on subtitles for people with hearing impairments, theater monitoring results are mentioned only briefly. In the results we want to highlight two specific theaters that can serve as inspiration for others: Divadlo Jána Palárika in Trnava, which broadcasts via FM and lends hearing support and loop induction devices; and Divadlo LUDUS in Bratislava, which makes 100% of its performances accessible to people with hearing impairments through subtitling equipment and sign-language interpretation.
Since the above-mentioned survey was conducted in 2012 and no other survey is available since then, we focused on the current state of this issue and gathered available information. In 2022, Act No. 264/2022 on media services and on the amendment and supplement of certain laws (the Act on media services) was approved, in which it is described in detail what obligations RTVS, as a public broadcaster, has in the area of subtitling for people with hearing impairments. Specifically, this issue is covered in § 239 titled Multimodal Approach. In this paragraph, it states what obligations arise for a public provider in ensuring multimodal access to television programs during the legally defined periods. For clarity and ease of understanding, we transferred these obligations into the following Table 1.
Table 1 Act No. 264/2022 § 23913
In addition to the above, in the period from 1 August 2022 to 31 December 2026, the public broadcaster is also required to ensure, within the mandated share of programs with multimodal access, that it provides: a) “at least 25% of all aired news programs and publicist programs with subtitles for people with hearing impairments, interpreted into Slovak sign language or in Slovak sign language, at least 15% of all aired children’s programs with subtitles for people with hearing impairments and at least 15% of all aired children’s programs interpreted into Slovak sign language or in Slovak sign language, b) programs accompanied by audio narration for blind viewers for at least 25% of all aired children’s programs and publicist programs.”
In connection with the stated law, RTVS is currently required to provide and implement 50% subtitled programs. This is not currently fulfilled to the full extent, because repeated broadcasts of various programs are also counted within these percentages. In addition to the stated law, a new decree on the quality of subtitles for people with hearing impairments is also being developed, which has not yet been approved. The currently valid decree is Decree No. 12/2006 on subtitles for persons with hearing impairments, which, in its five paragraphs, addresses the following points:
- technical parameters of subtitles
- color differentiation of subtitles when multiple people are communicating
- marking of sensations (feelings, inner monologue of a person, and others) that cannot be perceived visually through text in parentheses
- marking names or sounds using uppercase letters
- necessary shortening of subtitles must not affect or distort the meaning of the text. 14
Conclusion
From the theoretical knowledge and practical examples presented, it can be said that significant progress has been made in subtitling for people with hearing impairments. From our perspective, it would be useful to repeat the survey on the quality of subtitled programs for people with hearing impairments and compare the law and theory with the current situation in Slovakia. As a positive development in recent years, we observe an increased number of programs that are accessible to people with hearing impairments or are produced by these people themselves. Examples for us are the news in Slovak sign language presented by Deaf people themselves, the interpreted main news on RTVS STV2, Holy Masses, or other significant events that are automatically broadcast with a sign-language interpreter, and the presence of Deaf people in creating subtitled programs for people with hearing impairments. These are some of several examples of good practice that should continue to be developed. From a practical perspective, we need to present the following common recommendations and goals for the future:
- strengthening solid cooperation between subtitle providers and the Deaf community
- increasing the number of subtitled programs for all age groups
- conducting a survey of the current state of subtitling programs with proposals to adjust required elements
- amendment of Slovak Republic legislation
How the obligations of public providers in a multimodal approach are fulfilled will be shown only by practice itself.
Author: *PhDr. Mgr. Michaela Marová
Katolícka univerzita v Ružomberku
Teologická fakulta Košice*
List of used literature
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