Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times / Getty Images Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. ZDNET's key takeaways More than half of people say they watch TV with captions on. Adults under the age of 45 are much more likely to use subtitles. 50% of people say they use subtitles to catch every word. Do you watch TV with closed captions even though you don't necessarily need them? You're not alone. A new study shows that more than a third of people -- 34% -- either always or often have subtitles on when they watch TV. Another 23% say they use subtitles sometimes, meaning more than half of the population watches TV with captions enabled. While that's a striking number, what's most interesting is that number shoots up significantly if you break out a certain generation -- but it's not the one you'd think. Also: Can't hear TV dialogue? I found 3 ways to dramatically improve the audio quality Adults under the age of 45 are much more likely to use captions than those older than 45. Counting just the 18-44 demographic, 40% of people almost always have subtitles on, and 27% do sometimes. That leaves just 33% of that age range who say they never use captions. I'm just barely in this demo, by the way, and I'm squarely on team captions. In the bracket of 45 and older, 28% of people always use captions and 18% do sometimes, accounting for only 46% who do and 53% who never do. Why people are using closed captions Since it's not out of medical necessity, what's driving people to use captions? The study showed a variety of reasons: 50% turn on subtitles simply because they want to make sure they catch every word. 40% enable them to understand accents or watch movies and shows in another language. 30% utilize them because they are in a noisy environment. 25% of people blame poor audio quality as the reason they use captions. 25% have captions on because they are multitasking. 13% of people have a hearing impairment that requires captions. For the majority of people, it seems they're using captions just to make sure they understand everything being said. If you find yourself in this group that struggles to hear dialogue, there are a few things that can help. Also: Are smart glasses with built-in hearing aids viable? My verdict after months of testing First, tweaking just a few TV settings can make a big difference. In addition, some streaming services like Prime Video have a special dialogue boost setting, and a lot of new TVs have dialogue enhancement modes of their own. The study was conducted in August 2025 both online and via phone from 1,182 adults. Get the morning's top stories in your inbox each day with our Tech Today newsletter.