Nowadays, in the digital age, access to information and entertainment are an important part of life for anyone. But we very rarely reflect on how tools like subtitles can improve the user experience. Today I present to you the stories of two users, Ángeles and Emilio.
Ángeles is a girl who loves movies and television. Since childhood, he showed a special passion for stories of all kinds, but at the age of ten he lost his hearing. This fact posed very difficult challenges for him and silence became part of his way of life. However, thanks to the subtitles, you have been able to continue enjoying the audiovisual content. For Ángeles, subtitles are her connection with experiences that the rest of us have no trouble accessing.
On the other hand, Carlos is a professional who travels constantly. Whether in airports, trains or in the hot atmosphere of coffee shops, high ambient noise can become a real enemy to your concentration. He has a life where he can’t always be in his office. Therefore, you need to see things, sometimes, without being able to hear them due to the noise or silence imposed at that moment.
Subtitles are not only an aid for the hearing impaired. They are also helpful in environments where it is not possible to reproduce sound, or where the audio is not clear enough. So in what other contexts are subtitles useful? For example, to those who are learning a new language. These can, thanks to the subtitles, follow the thread of the dialogue and better understand what is being said.
Ángeles is not only a user of audiovisual content, but also a university student. When you access education in the form of online material, you frequently encounter difficulties. This is because the material you consume does not have the necessary subtitles. The video itself is a resource that can be very valuable for teaching. In the case of Ángeles and many like her, it is a resource that becomes inaccessible when it does not have subtitles.
Emilio realized that, even in work meetings that are held by videoconference, subtitles can be very helpful. The internet connection is not always the best, and background noise sometimes interferes with the audio. For this reason, it is better to secure the message with a text than to read it properly if it was not understood completely well in its spoken version.
It is essential to understand that accessibility involves us all at every moment and context. Adding subtitles to audiovisual content materials is a truly unquestionable step towards inclusion and, above all, equality. Companies and platforms have a responsibility to make their products accessible to a diverse audience.
The quality of the subtitles is essential. What is needed are subtitles that comply with the golden rule of translation: contextualize. Some subtitles that, in addition to transcribing, adapt the content to the culture in which it will be received.
Ángeles and Emilio illustrate the positive effect that subtitles can have on people’s lives, regardless of their conditions. Both are advocates of greater awareness about accessibility in the media and promote, in their daily lives, this inclusion that brings a little more justice to our societies.
What really exists in subtitles is the perception of what is “seen” when there is text, and what is “heard” when there is no text.
As an accessibility tool, subtitles are a statement of intent: here is content available to everyone, regardless of their ability or condition. But accessibility is not just a matter of inclusion. Subtitles also benefit a growing number of people who keep their attention on the screen while benefiting young people who learn the language.
#Subtitles
