Abstract
The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of the number of characters in and the length of display time of television captions on the comperhension of the television programs. Seventy-nine deaf students in junior and senior high schools for the deaf were presented with three kinds of captioned television peograms,such as drama, documentary, and scientific experiments. Two types of superimposed captions were used for each television program, varying in numder of characters. In one, all the characters of the speech and narration were included; in the other, a summary of the speech and narration was superimposed. The video material for each television program was presented at one of three durationa of display time…normal speed, normal speed×2/3, and normal speed×1/2…with each of these two different type of captions. After they viewd the video materials, the students were administered tests of comprehension. From the results, it was concluded that the physical parameters for superimposed captions on a television screen, such as the number of characters displayed and the length of display time, must be flexible, in accordance with the nature of the program and the viewers.
