About Captioning

Captions differ from foreign language subtitles in that they are coloured and positioned to indicate who is speaking, and provide information on music and sound effects which may be crucial to the understanding of the program. Subtitles are simply a translation of a foreign language into English which appears on the bottom of the screen.

Colouring and positioning which indicate different speakers.

A song with lyrics 

 A standard caption

A sound effect shown in a box with a light background

Captions are available on all TV programs shown between 6.00 -10.30pm on all free-to-air networks and on many DVDs and videos.

Why caption?

Captioning ensures that every member of every viewing audience has the ability to access broadcast messages through TV, video, DVD, webstreaming and even live events.

Who uses captions?

Deaf and hearing impaired people

People who are Deaf rely on captions to follow the soundtrack on television or videos.

People who have some degree of hearing loss use captions to help them understand the soundtrack. There are around 3.5 million hearing impaired people in Australia.

People learning English

Many language schools use captioned videos and television to help teach people spoken English. It is easier to follow a soundtrack reading the captions and listening to the pronunciation of words.

People viewing in noisy areas

Captions can be used by anyone who is trying to watch a television program or DVD in a noisy environment or where the volume cannot be adjusted, such as shopping centres, airports, gyms, shows, banks, pubs and clubs.

People working in quiet environments

People working in open-plan office, libraries or other quite areas can use captions and turn the volume down or off to watch a television program or DVD.

Captioning is also used in other parts of the world - see our Legislation page.