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Everyone knows: closed captioning is for people who are deaf or hard of hearing... right?

While it is irrefutable that people who are deaf or hard of hearing may find tremendous benefit from media that has been closed captioned, it is a misconception that captions are only useful to people with relevant disabilities. Like so many things, since the advent of ubiquitous captions on video media, we've learned that what's necessary for some can be good for everyone. People without disabilities actually make up the huge majority of captions users.

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For example, in 2006 BBC conducted a study to explore who used the captions they facilitated on their networks. They were surprised to find that 80% of closed caption users had no hearing disability, but simply found the captions effective for understanding speech in the shows they were watching or extending where/when they could watch shows (e.g., gyms, noisy restaurants, when someone was sleeping in the next room...).

The fact that large numbers of people without relevant disabilities use captions has led to research into whether such people benefit from captions (especially in learning settings). The answer is unequivocally yes!

For example, in her 2015 meta-analysis of over 100 empirical studies, Gernsbacher found consistent evidence that "captioning a video improves comprehension of, attention to, and memory for the video" (p. 198). These benefits were present for people with and without relevant disabilities, English language learners, college students, children and adults.

Focusing on specifically on college students, Dallas, McCarthy and Long (2016) found in two studies that college students exposed to captioned videos performed significantly better on content assessments pertaining to the video material than those who were not exposed to captions. Importantly, they also found

that there were no negative effects of captions on students attitudinally or in terms of performance.

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In other words, captions have the potential to provide basic access to students who are deaf or hard of hearing, provide substantial supports for language learners, and enhance attention, retention and comprehension for everyone without any known drawbacks.

While captions are an accessibility feature that some rely on, they can also provide a convenient support resource for many different types of learners and situations. There’s evidence that using closed captions that replicate auditory speech may improve attention, retention, and comprehension of educational content. Language learners have been shown to benefit significantly in terms of language development when the target language is both spoken and provided as captions, simultaneously.