I cannot understand the TV dialogue

[kevdude]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CRLLS I cannot deal with CC. I find I cannot "see" the program when reading the words.

+1. The CC'ing drives me nuts as it constantly distracts me. The rest of my family (DW, DS, DD) love using it though. If I happen to miss/misunderstand some dialogue, I will rewind the show and turn the CC on, then turn it off again.

[audreyh1]

Closed captioning is really useful when learning a foreign language. I have the closed captioning on in the foreign language, and find it helps train my ear as well as help me detect new vocabulary.

I have run into a few situations where it’s was way off though, I guess on YouTube or something automated. Hilarious really - but I’ll be like “that’s not what they said!’ A particular cooking video from Spain comes to mind, lol!

[dadu007]

Search for TV Ears at Amazon; well under $300. Otherwise, hearing aids with a Bluetooth streamer that attaches to your TV and streams the sounds directly to your hearing aids wirelessly.

[Sunset]

OP - Our TV has some audio settings, there is one for clear sound - to emphasis the speech part of the sound.
Maybe your tv has a similar type setting

[jim584672]

A good headphone attached to a good receiver will greatly help.

[Bryan Barnfellow]

My wife and I only have a TV in our bedroom. With my hearing loss (20% both ears, Hi frequencies), I created this simple solution: I bought a small CD player amplifier and connected it to the TV, then connected two small speakers, one on each side of our bed on the night tables. Now I hear everything. This has worked for the last 20-plus years for us.

-BB

[GalaxyBoy]

I tend to agree with everything said above but I think there is an annoying trend towards making the background music more like foreground music at the expense of the dialog. Wait, is this the pet peeve of the day thread?

[Amethyst]

As others have recommended: Put on "subtitles in English." We have done this for many years. This way, we get the best of both worlds: the voices and acting come through, while the subtitles fill in any gaps.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cbo111 Being sequestered in these covid times, we find ourselves watching a bit more tv than previously. I suffer from some hearing loss and tinnitus. DW has excellent hearing. When watching movies on Netflix (or any channel for that matter) we both find it difficult to hear dialogue. Often there is a background music or noise that seems to overwhelm the human voice, particularly voices with accents. We have an inexpensive flat screen Vizio smart tv, and a vizio sound bar. I have monkeyed with both and still have trouble hearing the dialogue. Turning up the volume is not always helpful. We are looking for an inexpensive solution ($300 range) that will improve the quality of human vocals. We don't intend it to be used to play music. Anybody out there with similar problem that have found a solution, please discuss!

[dolittle]

All good advice above. I too have this issue and use closed captioning often. Also, you mentioned Netflix. Netflix defaults to a 5.1 sound on many/most shows and movies which accentuates background sounds and music. Really pretty bad if you are not using a surround sound system. Change the sound setting to standard English in the same menu where you find the closed caption setting and see if that helps. It makes a big difference. Unfortunately you have to reset it with each new show/episode. A big complaint among Netflix users that you cannot preset it to standard sound.

Also, I have Comcast and for them you can go to "Setup" and tune the sound settings (for me) to "TV speakers" which seems to help with dialogue.

[Dawg52]

Quote:

Originally Posted by zinger1457 I had a soundbar hooked up to my LG OLED TV and also had issues with the dialogue. Purchased a Klipsch center channel speaker and connected it to my AV receiver with the existing speakers and the improvement in the clarity of dialogue for TV programming was impressive, and you don't have to crank up the volume to notice the benefits. The cost of the center channel speaker by itself falls within your budget but wouldn't be of much help unless you have the other AV components (receiver and speakers).

Yes a center channel speaker helps a lot. I started out with just left right speakers and all tho I could hear the dialogue ok a center channel really made a difference.

Overall my hearing is still pretty good. I do go in for a ear cleaning procedure every few years as wax buildup becomes a problem.

[folivier]

I use a Bose Hearphones when watching tv. It helps to bring out the voices by adjusting the volume, treble +, and bass -. Keeps my DW from saying the volume it too high.

[Montecfo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by audreyh1 Closed captioning is really useful when learning a foreign language. I have the closed captioning on in the foreign language, and find it helps train my ear as well as help me detect new vocabulary.

Excellent idea! Will have to try.

[Time2]

I think the graphic equalizer can help a lot by increasing the level of voice frequecies and decreasing the level of other frequencies. And it will work with speakers or headphones.

[Andromeda]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Souschef Before I broke down and got my hearing aids, I had a thing called TV ears. There are any number of designs. There are stethoscope designs, and headphone designs. In fact, I have a set I do not use that I can send you

My dad and stepmother use TV ears as well because they can individualize the settings. (They both have hearing difficulties but one hears better than the other does.)

[finnski1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by camfused We use CC on the British shows, to translate into English

same here

[W2R]

I probably watch TV no more than 5-10 hours/year. I just prefer other forms of amusement. Sometimes I watch brief youtube videos (on video games, or politics) on my laptop computer. No problems there although different creators record their videos at different volumes, sometimes.

I have a small external speaker that I bought to use with my Nintendo 3DSXL video gaming consoles, and that I suppose I could use with my laptop or TV, but it hasn't been necessary.

I haven't noticed any problems hearing the TV. I don't think I have any serious hearing loss yet. Also, living alone, I can just turn the volume up until it is loud enough for me to hear. Then I hit "mute" when it goes to those loud commercials. There's nobody else living with me who can object to my high volume settings.

[samm]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jim584672 A good headphone attached to a good receiver will greatly help.

+ 1

This is better than simply turning up the volume, which can cause sound echo in room which makes hearing voices even harder.

[Car-Guy]

Another vote for closed captions... Only problem is that the closed captions often overlay something I want to see/read... (Like news headlines. stock quotes, etc.)

[Car-Guy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by audreyh1 Closed captioning is really useful when learning a foreign language. I have the closed captioning on in the foreign language, and find it helps train my ear as well as help me detect new vocabulary.

I've learned more Spanish that way than from all other teaching methods that I've used,,,, combined! Also I seem to be able to pickup the "native" pronunciation a lot better... I hope the variance in Spanish that I've learned ins't as bad as it is in English between, let's say Texans and someone from New England.

[target2019]

A lot may depend on the Vizio soundbar model and its remote. TI would probably help to know that.

And of course I'm all for buying additional devices too.