Thursday, April 21, 2011

Closed Captioned: Male Voice

Sitting in a busy loud coffee shop does not lead to being able to hear the tvs displayed, hence the need for {closed caption}.  I happened to glance up to the television in a fit of attention deficit to notice a commercial beginning. The caption said {male voice} and then went on with the script of the commercial.  At that moment it hit me, a person born deaf would have no concept of a {male voice}.  They would not put together that it is probably a lower frequency and pitch than a female voice.  They would have no concept of pitch and frequency in general, much relation between higher and lower.  That caption would have only visual comparisons, say the person speaking might have facial hair and a possibly large muscular structure.  It might be a stronger voice than that of a petite woman.  The commercial might give context to the type of man that is speaking, but then again I am speaking with a plethora of past commercial watching and listening experience.  I would like to turn this insight into a Chestertonian insight into the infinite, but as of yet nothing has occured to me.  What I do realize is that a person born deaf perceives the world differently that I do.

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