How much of audience is deaf / HOH

[whydowedoit]

Hey,

I'm trying to get some statistics on how much of the downloads are for those who are deaf / hard of hearing. I understand a lot of the users are uploading and downloading for translations but as a deaf person, who also uses the subs (thanks for providing them!) I wondered how much is used by the deaf community.

I'm working on a project to improve subtitling within entertainment so if there's anyone who uses them as they have hearing impairments then it'd be great to hear back from you about why or how often you download!!

Thanks!!
K

[hector]

Yes, I read this post some time ago. Then I just though: "let's see how much". I had nothing to say. By the number of replies to this post you could say "not much".

But now I'm becoming interested in this question. I'd like to know too. My point is that subtitles specifically done for hearing impaired people can make a difference in user experience. I guess sometimes it's very difficult to follow the action in a film when you miss certain things. Is it worth the effort to make these subtitles?

Could the administrators give us some figures?

[SmallBrother]

By the number of replies to this post you could say "not much".

I think this is a wrong conclusion and a bit too vague. Look at how many registered users opensubtitles.org has (over 2 million) and how little are actually active on this forum (more or less only a handful). Many users don't know about this forum. From those who do, many only come for one specific question or problem they have. So, no reaction on this topic doesn't mean so much.

Could the administrators give us some figures?

According to the WHO, 10% of the world population have some hearing impairment, varying from mild to total deafness. From somewhere halfway that scale, somebody would be depending on HI subtitles to be able to fully follow a movie. Let's say from 'moderately severe' - this is approximately 1,5% of the world population. Roughly 80% of people with a severe hearing loss are 60+ years old. Percentages vary per country.

I think there are no opensubtitles.org specific statistics. Even the number/percentage of downloaded HI subtitles wouldn't say a lot, because maybe that's the only one available, or it's better than others (and used to remove the HI additions), or maybe they are only used for translation, etc.
But my personal non-scientific guess is that most users of (open)subtitles are younger than 60. Given this, and the above global figures, the percentage of users depending HI subs would be less than 1%.

Is it worth the effort to make these subtitles?

I would say "worth the effort" does not necessarily depend on numbers. Maybe it's a choice between making a lot of people a bit happy or making some people VERY happy. And from some comments here and there I conclude hearing impaired people are very happy with it.
Besides, and I suppose you are talking English subs for English movies, those subs can be used for translations into other languages, with or without the HI additions.

So yeah, I think it's worth the effort.

[hector]

I think you couldn't expect a more thorough answer. Thank you.

I would say "worth the effort" does not necessarily depend on numbers. Maybe it's a choice between making a lot of people a bit happy or making some people VERY happy. And from some comments here and there I conclude hearing impaired people are very happy with it.

I agree. Besides, I don't think the HI part adds too much effort. Most of the films I have made subtitles for, don't need any indications or at most two or three sounds. Now the next question: should I therefore upload two versions? The only difference would be those two or three indications.

And the next one: what if I upload two different versions, one for 24 fps and one for 25 fps? That makes 4 files... for every language.

[SmallBrother]

I don't think the HI part adds too much effort. Most of the films I have made subtitles for, don't need any indications or at most two or three sounds.

Maybe the actual job to add those couple of HI parts is not a lot of work, but it's the finding out where they would be necessary. It would involve at least watching the whole movie. Unless of course you make the subs from scratch, then it just comes along anyway.

next question: should I therefore upload two versions? The only difference would be those two or three indications.

I think it's totally fine to upload two versions, HI and non-HI.
Probably even preferred, because the HI parts could be experienced as distracting by non-HI people and/or might be in the way of spoken text.

what if I upload two different versions, one for 24 fps and one for 25 fps? That makes 4 files... for every language.

Same same. From an opensubtitles point of view, I think it's totally fine. Some movies have zillions of versions (translations, releases, etc.).
But for you it would be double (or quadriple) work. Like I said, adding HI parts AFTERWARDS is quite a job, but to make a resynch is not very time consuming or difficult. If you wanna make your life a bit easier, just upload two versions: HI and non-HI and forget about different releases.