TV Volume/hearing issue

[+ sync]

This morning the following email tidbit I received about TV transmissions roused my ire.  I've been beginning to experience concern that my hearing may be diminishing.

A case of the mumbles: If you find yourself turning on the subtitles to watch TV, you aren’t alone. About 50 percent of Americans — and the majority of young people — watch videos with captions on most of the time. Dialogue really is getting harder to understand, experts say, as TV speakers get thinner and weaker. And unlike traditional broadcasts, which adhered to a set volume limit, streaming services each have their own audio standards.

Brian X. Chen, a Times tech writer, tested some technological remedies: Most helped, but none fully solved the problem.

[+ Lucky]

I always use the captions even for English shows.

[+ Pensant]

Interesting. I haven’t experienced this with streaming, since I haven’t owned a TV for years. I’ll have to ask friends if they use captioning.

[maninsoma]

I think the issue is less to do with the speakers built into televisions (though obviously speakers mounted in an extremely thin panel aren't going to be great) and more to do with audio mixing and downmixing.  More recent shows are mixed with surround sound in mind, and if the mixer doesn't properly consider how the mix will sound when downmixed to smaller stereo speakers built into a television set you can end up listening to something where the music queues and other sounds are too loud relative to the dialog.

[Lookin]

Reproducing the human voice is not especially taxing for even the smallest, thinnest speakers.  But if the TV is set up to emphasize other frequencies, human voices may end up being de-emphasized.

Many flat panel TV's, mine included, have an audio adjustment menu.  Mine has a setting called 'Dialog'.  When selected, it will bring human voice frequencies to the forefront.  I find it makes a difference in intelligibility, though it may not provide the best sound for enjoying a musical.

Digital signal processing (DSP) is one of those things that's easy for TV manufacturers to do, so they do it.  But their out-of-the-box settings may be a pain in the ass for those of us with the old-fashioned expectation that we should be able to hear what somebody's saying.  🗣️👂

 

(Apologies if the linked article covered this.  The paywall let me read only the first couple paragraphs.)

[Just Chuck]

I lost nearly all of my hearing to a disease called otosclerosis then had surgery* to restore  part of it. So, I watch everything with captions turned on.   I've learned to enjoy that sometimes I get extra insights on a scene because the person doing the caption puts details in.  For example, I watched a show recently where rather than just showing the "music playing" subtitle, it gave the name of the artist and title of the song.

 

*I now have prosthetic stapes in my left ear.  I mistakenly told my coworker that I have a prophylactate in my ear.  

[jeezifonly]

I use captions most frequently on dialogue shows as opposed to documentary or news formats.

Remember that the people doing all the mixing a) do it wearing high quality headphones, and b) probably have spent more time listening to the human voice through headphones/earbuds since childhood than from across a room. 

[samhexum]

[TorontoDrew]

It's one of the reasons I just got new hearing aids.

[+ Autumnal]

I use the captions but then I feel like I'm missing out on the visual aspects of the show. One of the problems I have in understanding the dialogue is that there is constant music playing. And when did actors decide that it was a good thing not to project their voices - they all seem to whisper and coo their words, which mostly sounds like mush to me! 

[SlimJim]

I concur with people mentioning the background music.  It seems there is background music all the time, and all I can hear is the music.  What would be wrong with having dialogue with no music in the background?  (Such as in the old days!)

[+ bashful]

Lately, I'll stop, rewind, and replay with the volume louder when I didn't exactly hear the dialog.  Never thought about using closed caption. 

[+ purplekow]

I use closed captions when the exchanges seems particular fast or the background noise either on the TV or in my home is particularly loud.  It takes a small annoyance away from the general annoyance of old age.  

[+ cougar]

I was getting to the point of having a hard time hearing the TV well enough with the factory installed speakers and about four years ago, I bought the Sonos soundbar and sub-woofer for the TV and it did make a huge difference. Most recently, I have found that I am having a difficult time hearing the spoken word and I bought an additional Sonos side/rear speaker and it seems to help, but I agree all the extra sounds are too loud and makes hearing the spoken word too difficult. Regardless, I LOVE the Sonos system, one of the best investments I have made.