Netflix has introduced a new subtitle feature designed to exclude audio cues, such as “door slams” or “phone rings.” This new dialogue-only subtitle option was announced on Thursday and can be activated by navigating to “Audio” and then selecting “Subtitles.” Users will notice an option marked “English” instead of “English (CC),” indicating it includes only spoken words.
The feature serves as a complement to the existing closed captions (CC) used by the deaf and hard of hearing community, which provide both dialogue and essential audio cues like sound effects and music indicators. In contrast, the dialogue-only subtitles provide a simplified alternative, displaying only spoken dialogue without additional context.
This development responds to the increasing popularity of subtitles, as reported by Netflix, with nearly half of all viewing hours in the U.S. employing them. Currently, dialogue-only subtitles are available for the new season of “You” and are expected to be implemented soon across other new Netflix original titles in all languages offered by the streaming service.
