This is my answer too.
I don’t watch TV shows (other than live sports–for which the cc is horribly, comically bad); but I do watch a ton of movies on DVD. For about 10 years, about 9 out of 10 DVDs I watched were foreign-language, so I got very used to having subtitles on. So used to it, that now I turn on subtitles for all DVD movies, whether in foreign language or English.
I prefer subtitles rather than captioning (I don’t need to read [door creaking while opening] or [rain splattering on windshield] common to captioning), but sometimes that’s the only option to toggle on.
Only for programs that aren’t in English or French.
I never knew their was a difference. Thank you, this makes sense.
Not usually, but if an actor/actress mumbles a line or the environmental noise (or background music) inserted into a scene makes it incomprehensible, I’ll turn it on and back up to replay it. Happens way too often. After the line, if they become properly audible I turn the CC back off.
I always turn on subtitles in video games that have the option. Much harder to go back and get the line clarified in those.
Hate closed captioning, it’s too intrusive. Annoying stuff like music playing, sound of thunder, people laughing, etc drives me crazy, I can’t watch anything with it on. It’s certainly a blessing for the deaf or hard of hearing, and I can understand consulting it for unfamiliar accents, etc, otherwise I don’t know how people put up with it. Each to his own I guess.
Both of these.
My brother and I went to our dad’s house on Christmas and we decided to watch the holiday episodes of The West Wing, and I was surprised to find that Dad was using captioning. I know that his hearing isn’t what it used to be, but he has a sound bar that he keeps right next to his chair and I didn’t expect him to also use captioning. When I commented on it, my brother – who is younger than me – said that he likes to have it on, too! I had to keep my eyes at the top of the screen and pretend the words weren’t there. Very distracting.
I’ll use subtitles for foreign-language shows/movies, but I generally have no problem with UK or Australian accents (or Canadian ;)). Sometimes a particularly thick brogue might give me some trouble, but I’d rather miss a word here or there than have captions on.
No, and I’m not even sure how to enable it.
Some years ago I developed epilepsy, caused the right temporal lobe becoming atrophied and dysfunctional. Eventually it was removed, and I am cured.
However, the temporal lobe handles short-term memory and auditory processing, so I have half the brain power of most people. CC/subtitles help me keep up with shows, and I wish I could have them for dealing with the public, who will start talking to me and then turn their heads away, or shout at me from 10-20 feet away.:smack:
Sometimes, I watch CC for comedy value. The spelling can be laughably bad, and mistakes can be hilarious.
I have severe hearing problems, so my captioning is on constantly. I can’t pick up enough dialogue to understand it otherwise.
My wife does not have the hearing loss that I do, but I noticed she never shuts the captioning off when watching tv alone. She has told me that there is dialogue she misses without captioning (quietly spoken words or background speech mostly).
I think the early 90’s was when they started trying to get most shows captioned - in Pittsburgh anyway, not sure about other areas. It seems like pretty much everything except an occasional commercial has the captioning option nowdays, so I am very grateful for that.
The one thing that bothers me is that dvd’s of older movies hardly ever have captioning. My mom watches a lot of these, and I can’t pick up even 1/4 of the dialogue in them. 
I live in a duplex and I often watch TV at night. So I turn the volume down to a relatively low level. I generally turn the closed captioning on so I don’t miss any quiet dialogue.
This. Plus Elementary, since Jonny Lee Miller is otherwise incomprehensible.
I generally have CC on all the time. The only exceptions are news and other live programming where there’s a significant lag, which can be quite distracting.
Years ago, I discovered that Simpsons captioning sometimes varies from the spoken dialogue—sometimes there are completely different jokes! I assume this is the result of captions being prepared from earlier versions of the script.