Would Easy Rider work without the music?

Hearing loss and background music on TV and radio

Subtitles again. Sue recently said how difficult it was differentiating between subbed dialogue and subbed song lyrics. Background music is often subbed in a different colour, but for Sue (other’s may not agree) she didn’t even know background music was playing and didn’t actually want to know there was music as words without music don’t set the scene for a deaf viewer.

Hard-of-hearing and recently deafened viewers may know the song. With Sue, music written within the past eight years is a mystery. I think lyrics are boring without the music, no offence to those who want subbed music, but as much as I love opera it’s the music I enjoy as I don’t speak Italian (or French) and I can’t even imagine Wagner’s Ring Cycle without the tunes.

But take heart, background music distraction is an equal opportunity problem. Viewers with good hearing often complain that music and background noise (people chatting, street sounds etc) cover up the dialogue. A regular complaint on Radio 4’s Feedback programme is that plays etc. feature overwhelming and unwanted music at the cost of dialogue. At least with TV there are subtitles, when subs are included.

My father was moaning about a film he’d been waiting to see, but when it came on he couldn’t tell what the characters were saying. I advised to switch subs on. Sue’s parents find background noise and strong accents overwhelming as well, so they leave subs on. Even if there aren’t enough subbed programmes (more, please) what there is better than none at all and allows so many viewers to enjoy watching something. I just wish TV wasn’t such rubbish. It’s all personal choice though.