Ask HN: Why don't closed captions boldface words that are likely to be misheard?

4•amichail•2mo ago

I think Netflix should enhance closed captions by using boldface on words that are more likely to be misheard due to high-frequency hearing loss.

Of course, Netflix could also provide options for different types and severities of hearing loss that affect caption styling.

Technically, it may need to bypass the closed caption standard and display the text directly over the video for this to work.

Do you think many people would benefit from this option for closed captions?

Comments

Grosvenor•2mo ago

I think it not only varies by the words, but also the movie genre/director.

Every Christopher Nolan movie would need every word in boldface. Can you even hear (or understand) what is happening in Tenet?

krapp•2mo ago

>I think Netflix should enhance closed captions by using boldface on words that are more likely to be misheard due to high-frequency hearing loss.

closed captions are used under the assumption that none of the words are being heard. And it's not as if the sound being harder to hear makes the text harder to read, so I don't see the benefit of bold text.

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