An eye tracking study on the readability of two-vs. three-line subtitles.

1. One, two, three?
An eye tracking study
on the readability of
two- vs. three-line subtitles.
Olivia Gerber-Morón
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Agnieszka Szarkowska
Centre for Translation Studies, UCL

4. How many lines?
“
Three lines may be used
if the subtitler is confident
that no important picture information
will be obscured
(Baker et al., 1984, p. 9)
Endorsed by OFCOM, BBC, ITC,
Deafness Forum of Australia.

5. How many lines?
“
Three- or four-line captions
are occasionally acceptable
if a one- or two-line caption would interfere
with pre-existing graphics or be confusing
with regard to speaker identification.
The Described and Captioned Media Program

6. When to use three lines?
“
More than one short sentence
may be combined into a single subtitle
if the available reading time is limited.
Spoken sentences will frequently be too
long to fit into a single two-line subtitle.
(Baker et al., 1984, p. 9)

7. When to use three lines?
“
Three-line subtitles are used in rare cases
where the pace of the dialogue is so fast
that two-liners would have to be displayed
very quickly one after the other.
Łukasz Bogucki (2009)

8. Why a study on three lines?
▪ to empirically test three-line subtitles
▪ to compare the readability of two- and
three-line subtitles using eye tracking
technology
▪ to examine comprehension
and viewers' preferences

9. Mixed factorial design
▪ Within-subject independent variable
–Number of lines (2 or 3)
▪ Between subject independent variable
–Language (English, Polish, Spanish)
–Deafness (Hearing, Hard of hearing, Deaf)

10. Procedure
▪ Materials
– Two video excerpts with
two and three-line
intralingual subtitles from
Chelsea
▪ Participants by language
– 30 English
– 21 Polish
– 26 Spanish
▪ Participants by deafness
– 27 hearing
– 10 hard of hearing
– 9 deaf

11. Dependent variables
▪ Comprehension/recall
▪ Cognitive load
▪ Enjoyment
▪ Preference
▪ Post-test interview
▪ Eyetracking measures:
– dwell time
– fixations count
– mean fixation duration
– revisits
– percent of time spent on subtitles

21. Which subtitles do you prefer?

24. Two or three?
Participants’ impressions
“[...]in situations where there is a lot of content
and you cannot summarize it, it’s a good idea to
have three-lines because you can read more at
the same time.
[...] for films where the visuals have a good artistic
value and you don’t want to cover them up to
break the frame, I would prefer two-lines.”
Spanish participant

25. Conclusions
Three-line subtitles:
– no influence on comprehension
– higher cognitive load and lower enjoyment
– more fixations, especially for deaf participants
(percentage dwell time on subtitles)

26. Conclusions
Viewers prefer two lines, but preferences vary
depending on the condition (i.e. deafness)
and subtitle habits (e.g. Spanish vs. Polish
viewers)

27. Further research
Significant differences could be found
when testing three-lines on smaller screens.
Cognitive load and other variables could be
higher depending on the genre, the pace
and the duration of audiovisual material.

28. www.facebook.com/SureProject
This project has received funding from the European Union’s
Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme
under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Grant Agreement No. 702606