Captioning allows the viewer to follow the dialogue and the action of a program simultaneously. Captioning is useful to deaf and hard of hearing individuals. People who lose their hearing suddenly find captioning beneficial. Using captioning to help children learn to read and to help individuals master second languages is currently being studied. Closed captions need a special decoder to show the captions on the screen.
Most televisions sold today already include a closed caption decoder as one of their features.
In fact, the Television Decoder Circuitry Act of 1990 stated that all TV sets over 13 inches sold in the United States after 1993 would include a closed captioning decoder. Real-time captions are created as the event takes place. There may be a slight delay depending upon the captioner's needs to hear the word and the computer processing time. Edit captions summarize ideas and shorten phrases for easier reading. Verbatim captions include everything that is said for full access and comprehension.