Reading sounds: closed-captioned media and popular culture

摘要

For many, the captions for television shows and films never make an appearance. For others, they are a necessary part of the viewing experience. Yet both groups of viewers rarely consider the existence of the background noise that is present in these programs, despite its extreme importance to the action in some cases. For those of us who are deaf, the accurate captioning of ALL sounds in any visual text is essential to our understanding of the character, plot, setting, or themes. Sean Zdenek has made a significant addition to the fields of Deaf Studies and Disability Rhetoric with his book Reading Sounds: Closed-Captioned Media and Popular Culture. This work is also integral to the field of technical communication which is heavily focused on usability and how technical communicators can help usher in the next wave of usable technology.