I sound like an old man, but it’s pretty much impossible to understand what people are saying. The current trend of mumbled dialogue is probably great for atmosphere - but I can’t hear what they are saying.
I've noticed especially for movies that they really mix for center channel of at least 5.1 audio and if that's not properly down mixed for stereo speakers you get the situation where everything else is crazy loud and dialogue is whisper quiet so I'm turning the volume up and down on movies that my old receiver doesn't play nice with. that and there is some awful audio compressor streaming studios use that makes voices sound "tin can" like but I am told I'm one of the few bothered by it.
I will not avoid watching a show just because it does not have captions/subtitles, but I will enable captions/subtitles if they are available.
(However, last time I have seen a movie, it did have subtitles, but there was also an entire orchestra in front of the picture and the subtitles were difficult to see because the musician's head blocked the view. If I was sitting higher up then I could probably see it better.)
i am an audiologist.. it is great that you routinely use subtitles (if you do) i hear your complaint a lot, along with foreign accents on screens, the pace of dialogue and the 'background track' drowning out dialogue.. while all these may well be the case, if you're pushing middle age, and particularly if you need to watch media much louder than a friend or partner, do consider a hearing assessment. there is really no point putting it off, truly
I see people complain about needing subtitles all the time. I don't have the best hearing but I can regularly listen to video media (TV, Movies, Internet Content(think YouTube / Twitch), Streaming) at very low volumes and hear everything fine. I can only attest to anecdotal evidence but it sure seems to me that folks are just getting older and can't hear and think the problem is with the content but not themselves.
I recognize TVs aren't 1:1 on volume scales. When I am at my house, I can listen to the television at 5 - 15. If I have anyone else over it has to go to at least 40. When I go to someone else's house (both older and younger than myself) but am watching the television by myself I'll turn it down to 10 or so, depending on how far away I am. Everyone else gets concerned like I can't hear it. When I am watching the same content on the same screen with the same speakers, they regularly need it back toward 40 at a minimum.
I have to imagine that while audio mixing may not be as clear as it was before it does not rise to the need to increase the volume as much as folks tend to nor the need to use subtitles.
Personally, and maybe this is from watching anime a lot, as soon as there are subtitles, I read the subtitles and the actual content on the video is lost because now there are words on the screen that my brain needs to read rather than consume the actual content. It turns content into poorly written novels.
This. This is particularly an issue with English-language media. Making out what the actors are saying is effortful and often impossible when they're just mumbling with some bizzare accent.
I also really don't want to miss dialogue every time I'm eating a potato chip or a car drives down the road.
I am 40 yrs old and English is my second language. I cant give you some specific examples but when I watch old hollywood movies (50-60s), I mostly understand dialogues. Dialogues from modern movies are a bit harder to understand and I cant watch any movie without subtitle.
I think apart from increased desire to be perceived as realistic today, in old times there was a stronger need to articulate speech clearly, because of constraints in recording and playing audio.
Then conversely, today it seems that filmmmakers often assume their series or movies are consumed on headphones or loud TVs
