Accessibility win, but in a confusing way...

[jackandahat]

So I'm watching the DVD of Bond, Die Another Day. One of the commentaries is Pierce Brosnan and Rosamund Pike. For the first 45 minutes you've just got Pierce on his own - and it's subtitled, so I'm in love.

Then Rosamund shows up. And I'm thinking, I can see her words, why can't I hear her? That's because apparently, he's being played in the left earphone and she's being played in the right. I'm sure this is supposed to be some trick about placement or something, but what it actually means for me is I can either hear her, or him, not both of them. (Deaf in the right ear)

Thankfully the subtitles mean I can still follow what they're both saying, which I'm very glad for, yay subtitles. But I've never met something that was quite this distinct about left/right.

ETA: Yep, they win, all the special features on Disc 2 (this is the UK version) are subtitled.

Comments

[pauraque]

Yeah, I really wish they would have mono options on everything. My girlfriend is deaf in one ear and relatively low-hearing in the other, so she prefers to listen to things in headphones if possible so she can turn it up and not bother others. Just doesn't work if the stereo effect is too extreme.

Hell, even as an average-hearing person, I'd probably choose the mono option if I had it. I like to listen in headphones too and I don't need to hear every single car going from left to right, kind of annoying really.

Yay about the subtitled commentary though!

[jackandahat]

I did wonder what hearing people thought of it, if it was good/neutral/annoying - I imagine there's a range of preferences.