Why I use subtitles even though I don’t really need to

I always use subtitles when I’m watching a TV show or a movie. I don’t really need to, I have a moderate-severe bilateral hearing loss and I could turn the TV up enough so that I could hear it.

I mostly watch TV when my wife and daughter have gone to bed so obviously I don’t want the TV blaring out and waking them up, that’s one reason why I always use subtitles, the other reason is:

After a hard day of: straining to hear stuff, trying to stay in the conversation, asking people to repeat themselves, bluffing and guessing what’s been said, just saying yeah when I’ve no idea what they said, reading lips, trying to work out who is talking and trying to work out how loud I’m talking. It’s nice to not have the hassle for a little while.

It’s nice to have some peace and quiet. No stress, no worries about missing anything, the words are right there for me to read without any effort at all.