Consumers of Captioned DTV: Deaf and Hard of Hearing People and Beyond Donna L. Sorkin Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing

Key Issues uThe Evolution of Captioned Television uUsers of Captioning uOpportunities to Improve Captioned TV uYour Role in Ensuring a Smooth Transition from Analog to Digital

Captioning: 0 to 100 uVoluntary captioning/Separate decoders uTV Decoder Circuitry Act of 1990 uTelecommunications Act of 1996 uNew captioning features via DTV

Faces of Hearing Loss uSpans ages uCrosses educational and socio-economic characteristics uIncludes people in cities/rural areas uImpacts people of all ethnicities uIncludes your viewing audience regardless of location or category of programming

Hearing Loss in America uOne of the most common disabilities u28 million D/HoH people uEstimated 10% of total population u6 million use hearing technology u2 million with profound hearing loss

Incidence Varies by Age…At last count u3% up to age 18 u10% at age 40 u33% at age 65 u50% at age 80

Incidence of Hearing Loss is Increasing uNoise Induced Hearing Loss on the Rise uOne study measured 15% incidence in teens uBaby Boomers Entering Middle Age

Captioning Users uLikely not the entire 28 million all the time u½ or more of the deaf/HoH population are users uChildren use captions from age 7 or 8 uPeople for whom English is a Second Language uAudio off users (i.e., airports, bars, public places) uFamily members often get hooked uConvenience/benefit for everyone