ATV
Closed Captioning
The primary purpose of this segment was to determine if character edging--such as an outline or drop shadow would help make captions more readable when there was no window. Four different features were tested: white captions with no edging and no window; white captions with a black drop shadow and no window; yellow captions with a black drop shadow and no window; and white captions with a black drop shadow, against a very translucent window.
The only option that scored fairly high was the white captions with a black drop shadow against a translucent window. The participants felt that the difficulty with a lack of a window is that the captions often get lost in the picture.
We are unsatisfied with the testing of this segment and recommend further research to determine an effective way of providing captions without a window. Several participants expressed their dissatisfaction with the traditional black window an their desire to see more of the picture. A different caption color--perhaps a bright yellow--would have been more effective.
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Character Edging
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All
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Deaf
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HoH
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Hearing
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Men
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Women
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Under 50
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Over 50
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No PC
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Translucent
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7.2
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7.3
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6.5
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7.6
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7.0
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7.4
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7.3
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7.2
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7.4
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White w/shadow
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5.7
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5.5
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4.7
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6.4
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6.3
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5.3
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5.4
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6.0
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5.6
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White
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4.7
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4.6
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4.2
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5.0
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5.6
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4.1
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4.6
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4.7
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5.0
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Yellow w/shadow
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4.3
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4.0
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3.8
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4.8
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4.8
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3.9
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5.0
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3.4
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4.5
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WHITE CAPTIONS WITH BLACK SHADOW, TRANSLUCENT WINDOW (Figure 16)
It was OK. I could read it fine but I was not crazy about it. I had to concentrate harder. I feel more comfortable with a background underneath. This was more stressful.
Interesting. I could see getting to like that a lot. Most unobtrusive presentation of captions but retains the most legibility. Maybe I can't read them equally as well but still well enough.
Compared with the others I liked it better. But I don't like to see through. I prefer a solid background. I don't want my eyes to have to work harder than they have to.
It's the best so far but I want the sheer to be darker.
Good. the background could be a tad darker and the white could be whiter. The design is the best so far.
It seems clearer, good. Rather ideal. There is enough definition to help you read it. I like the idea of the background.
WHITE CAPTIONS WITH BLACK SHADOW, NO WINDOW (Figure 17)
I liked the unobtrusiveness of not having a window. The shadow makes them legible, but over a light background the letters can get lost. It takes a bit more effort to read.
Good, but it needs a background. They become hard to read against a similar background.
That was a little distracting. I would prefer the captions without the shadow.
It's better than yellow with a shadow. Acceptable. I would take this over a window at any time.
It does require a lot of attention because of the lack of a background. The shadow appeared to be a part of the picture and not the captions themselves.
WHITE CAPTIONS, NO SHADOW OR WINDOW (Figure 18)
Those really get lost against a light background.
It's nice to have it without the box but the captions aren't clear enough. I wouldn't recommend it.
It seemed to be more clear in terms of the light captions. It requires more concentration without the background but it doesn't block the picture.
Much different. I'm satisfied with it but sometimes with a bright background it was difficult to read. I like the idea. Yellow or green captions may be better than white.
The captions need a background. There needs to be a shadow without a background. Otherwise they are invisible.
YELLOW CAPTIONS WITH BLACK SHADOW, NO WINDOW (Figure 19)
It was very bad. Hard to read. I'm surprised, I thought the shadow would make it clearer but it made it worse.
I'd rather have a background because the letters become hard to see (without one.) Too many different colors in the picture make it hard to read.
It was a little too faded for a quick read. The shadow kind of dulled it up.
The shadow helps a lot and works with the idea of wanting to see stuff behind the background but it is still harder to read especially against a light background.
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