Ahead of the University of Sheffield’s new film, ‘Improving Subtitles for Deaf Audiences’, our Head of VoiceBox, Sophie Muller, was interviewed for her thoughts. This chat was also used as a full guest blog over on the iHuman blog.
We wanted to share some of Sophie’s thoughts that are covered in more detail in the blog, given her position and expertise on the topic.
“Imagine you’re d/Deaf or hard of hearing and watching Jaws”, said Sophie. “Without SDH subtitles (Subtitles for d/Deaf and Hard of Hearing people), you wouldn’t feel the suspense and tension from the iconic soundtrack and sound effects, and you wouldn’t get to experience some of the most renowned cinematic moments ever.
“Even though it is not spoken dialogue, if you remove the full audio landscape — including sound effects, tone, music and audio cues that matter — you remove a sense of meaning and suspense. It’s all gone.
“Not only do you do a disservice to the viewer, but the producer and directors also suffer. They’ve spent an awful lot of time using their expertise to create dramatic moments and you’re doing them out of a good job.”
Sophie further explained her position on SDH.
She continued: “I have two jobs. One, to drive revenue and provide a service for media clients. Two, to listen to the industry, to think tanks, to deaf, blind and neurodiverse audiences to get a better understanding of what works for them. Then, I need to transfer that over to the media clients.
“And from seeing the impact of SDH subtitles, they 100% should be the absolute standard.”
In the guest blog, Sophie also covered how SDH supports revenue for businesses, the value in fully committing to subtitles and how SDH creates a better experience for a wider audience too.
Read more from Sophie in conversation with the University of Sheffield.