Closed captioning
Jack Foley created the "CC in a TV" symbol
while senior graphic designer at WGBH.
Closed captioning is a term describing sev-
eral systems developed to display text on a
television or video screen to provide addition-
al or interpretive information to viewers who
wish to access it. Closed captions typically
display a transcription of the audio portion of
a program as it occurs (either verbatim or in
edited
form),
sometimes
including non-
speech elements.
Terminology
The Barack Obama 2009 presidential inaug-
uration used "roll-up"-style open captions on
some JumboTrons.
The term "closed" in closed captioning indic-
ates that not all viewers see the cap-
tions—only those who choose to decode or
activate them. This distinguishes from "open
captions" (sometimes called "burned-in" or
"hardcoded" captions), which are visible to
all viewers.
Most of the world does not distinguish
captions from subtitles. In the United States
and Canada, these terms do have different
meanings, however: "subtitles" assume the
viewer can hear but cannot understand the
language or accent, or the speech is not en-
tirely clear, so they only transcribe dialogue
and some on-screen text. "Captions" aim to
describe
all
significant
audio
con-
tent—spoken dialogue and non-speech in-
formation such as the identity of speakers
and, occasionally, their manner of speak-
ing—along with music or sound effects using
words or symbols.
The United Kingdom, Ireland, and most
other countries do not distinguish between
subtitles and closed captions, and use "sub-
titles" as the general term—the equivalent of
"captioning" is usually referred to as "Sub-
titles for the hard of hearing". Their presence
is referenced on screen by notation which
says "Subtitles" or previously "Subtitles 888"
(the latter is in reference to the conventional
teletext channel for captions).
Application
Most commonly, closed captions are used by
deaf or hard of hearing individuals to assist
comprehension. They can also be used as a
tool by those learning to read, learn