No, that's not it. I grew up with literally everything in English being subtitled. Always hated it, but all I can do is make an effort to not have my eyes there.

Even some DVDs did not have the option to turn off subtitles. I never had subtitles on for anything that gave me the option. (I even bought DVDs from overseas occasionally to not get subtitles)

But now every other show is frequently incomprehensible.

Either they've put lead in the drinking water, making us all not understand the spoken word, or they've made dialog audio shit.