Viewer Reaction to Different Television Captioning Speeds

Video Segments captioned at different speeds were shown to a group of 578 people that included deaf, hard of hearing, and hearing viewers. Participants used a five-point scale to assess each segment's caption speed. The "OK" speed, defined as the rate at which "caption speed is comfortable to me," was found to be about 145 words per minute (WPM), very close to the 141 WPM mean rate actually found in television programs (Jensema, McCann, & Ramsey, 1996). Participants adapted well to increasing caption speeds. Most apparently had little trouble with the captions until the rate was at least 170 WPM. Hearing people wanted slightly slower captions. However, this apparently related to how often they watched captioned television. Frequent viewers were comfortable with faster captions. Age and sex were not related to caption speed preference; nor was education, with the exception that people who had attended graduate school showed evidence that they might prefer slightly faster captions.