Usability tests for personalised subtitles

Abstract

Over the past decade, subtitles have developed along with broadcast and broadband technology. Viewers nowadays enjoy new opportunities to customize subtitles to best meet their personal preferences or needs. This study aims to identify end-user subtitle setting preferences, to investigate whether these settings have an effect on content comprehension, and to explore subtitle usability for two groups of participants, those under the age of 65 and those over 65. In an experiment, three subtitle features were open to customization: the position, the box and the size of the subtitle, before and after participants watched an on-demand TV documentary produced by the Catalan public broadcaster TVC. Results confirm a preference for bottom and medium subtitles. Furthermore, while the under 65 segment made satisfactory use of the system, the over 65 segment experienced different levels of usability and reported different capabilities and problems.

Evaluating subtitle readability in media immersive environments

“…Again, the head-locked was clearly identified as the preferred choice. These results for a preference to the existing classic subtitle presentation [4] was also found during the past decade while testing subtitle readability across Europe [13].…”

“…Some W3C and ISO/IEC/ITU recommendations towards readability are no longer prescriptive since technology these days is increasingly allowing for personalisation at the client side [4]. While in the past sound volume and brightness or contrast were the only two adjustable elements, the change to media objects and the Internet media distribution have opened the possibility to endless subtitle presentation modes [5].…”

VR 360º subtitles

“…Head-locked subtitles resemble most traditional ecstatic 2D subtitles, always visible at the bottom of the screen. These results come as no surprise since for years now subtitle testing in Europe has shown that people like what they are used to, even if the data demonstrate that the solution is not ideal, as proved with eye-tracking tests (Mas Manchón & Orero, 2018;Romero-Fresco, 2015). Source: Authors' own elaboration based on .…”

Adaptive Subtitles: Preferences and Trade-Offs in Real-Time Media Adaption

“…Acceptance of customised subtitled content is not based on comprehension or readability but on culture, habits, age, attitudes, and content [39]; more commonly known as factors relating to User Experience (UX) [47]. Comfort, rather than readability, has been suggested as a metric to use when creating guidelines for subtitle positioning [65] and in this regard, participants respond positively when given the ability to personalise the position of subtitles when viewing online media [19].…”