SDH subtitles (Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard of hearing) include more than dialogue: sound effects like [door slams], descriptions like (laughs), speaker names like JOHN: and song lyrics with ♪. Great for accessibility, distracting if you only want the dialogue.
What gets removed
- Text in square brackets:
[music playing] - Text in parentheses:
(whispering) - Speaker labels in capitals before a colon:
MARY: Where are you?→Where are you? - Lines with music notes (♪ lyrics ♪)
Subtitles that become empty are deleted, and the rest keep their timing.
Do it in your browser
Open the free remove hearing impaired tool, load your SRT, choose what to strip and download the clean file. The file is processed in your browser and is not uploaded.
By hand
Subtitle Edit has Tools → Remove text for hearing impaired with similar options. With a text editor and regular expressions you can do it too, but it is easy to delete real dialogue in parentheses, so check the result.
Check before you use it
- Some dialogue is written in parentheses on purpose (an aside). Skim the file.
- If you also see tags like
<i>on screen, remove the formatting too.