It's possible my hearing is below average, in which case I think that would be a pretty good reason for anyone to do it.
That's a perfectly good reason for exactly why someone should do it. "Hearing-impaired" is precisely the intended audience for the service.
Those aren't the people I'm talking about. I'm talking about what
someone descibes as "able-bodied caption fans". Or like George Costanza would call "riding around in a wheelchair for the fun of it".
Another writer says, "I’m not hard of hearing at all - but this is a thing I need". I think more people
need to learn the difference between preference and necessity. Every detail of the reasons offered annoy me more than the last - "I want to read the script", "The words help me pay attention to the screen and stay off twitter". Or, my favorite reason, "not using captions is putting caption writers out of work". I don't think that's how that works.
But notice that it isn't enough for these writers to assert their preference, rather they feel the need to coerce compliance. "It is a senseless hatred that has gone on too long." OK, Rosa. Suddenly not wanting the distraction becomes a "hate", or better yet a "fear", all with overtones that pretense some kind of political oppression. My not wanting to watch subtitles somehow infringes on what? Your ability to watch a movie
at the gym? "If you want to watch with a clean screen, go elsewhere. Or, better yet, get over your fear of subtitles." Where the hell is "elsewhere"? You mean that place where I can turn off the captions? Is anyone actually suggesting getting rid of subtitles altogether even for those who need them? Has a single director or cinematographer demanded no subtitle service for their work? Doth protest.
You can already see signs of nervous frailty here - "Mundane things make me feel calm", and "I'm needy and high-maintenance when it comes to television". These
are likely issues that could require medication, but nothing involving special needs in either language or hearing capacity. Unless, for example, you can't tell the sound of a bird from a donkey but I think that too is probably more of a cultural blindpot for those who have avoided natural sonic stimulus due to, I'm guessing, a tremendous fear of squirrels?