this post was submitted on 27 Sep 2025
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Television
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I watched a video made by a sound engineer on YouTube that explained why this is becoming increasingly necessary.
The volume levels for most modern movies and television shows are all jacked up during some scenes, and practically muted in others. It makes it impossible to keep the volume set at one level, and still be able to hear conversations amidst all the background noise / music etc.
So naturally, people now set the volume to one setting more attuned to the higher volume sounds, and use subtitles to make up for the fact that the dialogue is being drowned out. It has nothing to do with "culture". People just don't want to blow their eardrums or their speakers trying to hear what people are saying underneath all that extra racket.
try compression or limiting. For example, if you have an apple TV, try the "reduce loud sounds" setting. Or if you have a decent audio receiver it should have some compression settings available like Audessy Dynamic Volume.
I live in a townhouse so I use these to reduce noise to my neighbors anyway, but it does help with this issue as well. I rarely struggle to hear dialogue even in notoriously bad movies.
I don't understand how you read the subs while looking away. Or are they listening to something else while watching the screen?
The gist is that I can read faster than the person on TV speaks. I read the line, and then I can go back to reading my book. When the person is done saying the line I just read, I read the next line on the tv, rinse and repeat. If they stop talking I know I need to look because something other than dialogue is about to happen.
Good for you and all, but aren't you interested in the acting? the way the lines are delivered?
No I hate tv, it's the worst medium for me. I just watch out of social obligations, I have people who like the medium and want to talk to me about it.
That is some impressive reading and multitasking skills! Fair play 😄