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#Gaming

3/24/2016 9:38:50 PM
6

Gaming for the Hearing Impaired

A lot of times when I play games I like to run Netflix or music, so often I have the sound low and subtitles on. Being as I'm not hearing impaired and often leave subtitles on when I am listening to the game, I've noticed how much dialogue I would miss were I hearing impaired. As it stands, I can at any time choose to turn up the volume and listen to the audio cues or conversations that don't show up in the subtitles, but a deaf person could not. Fable III is a great example of this. Often times non-quest NPCs will say things that will give you hints or clues as to side quests or special events. The gnomes you need to track down give hints they're around by shouting insults at you. None of this shows up in the subtitles. I don't know if this is common because the deaf community doesn't know about it because obviously they can't hear it, or if it's because no one cares. Anyone else notice this?

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  • That's a good point in your example for those that suffer from this.

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  • It's very rare I listen to audio in a game unless it's an RPG i've got into along the lines of the Witcher series. Playing random games I usually have my music on. It's also why I seem like an ignorant bastard in groups for anything. Yes, I own a mic but i'm listening to 80's power ballads and they are farm more interesting that anything that will be said during that run.

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    • Sometimes the voice acting is so awful I wish I were deaf, does that count?

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      • Edited by IMAGE NOT FOUND: 3/25/2016 12:58:26 AM
        Good point. I think all games should have full subtitles. This is because in interactive entertainment, you can easily miss what's exactly being said as you're distracted by other things, especially in the heat of the moment. Also some audio is just plain bad, maybe too low in the mix in a busy scene or when your concentration is elsewhere, so you can miss key info

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        • I never play without subtitles. Even with the in game music turned off and my system volume turned up I still miss some things that a voice actor might have mumbled or misread. However, very few games have complete subtitles or closed captioning. What I mean by that is not every sound is included. Left 4 Dead is one of the titles that does it better than your average game, but it could still use some improvement.

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          • I've noticed it.

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