Dialogue Too Quiet When Watching TV? Change These Settings

Ever watch a movie or TV show where the loud scenes are always drowning out the dialogue? Or worse yet, while your two favorite characters are speaking, and their voices sound like a whisper. Turning up the volume doesn't help because most likely, it has to do with the dynamic range of the audio stream — the difference between the quietest and loudest sounds. When looking at a visualized sound wave, these are the valleys and peaks, and the bigger the range, the greater the difference in volume.

But there is a setting to make the difference more balanced called Dynamic Range Compression (DRC), also sometimes called volume leveling or night mode on various TVs and audio devices. By turning this setting on, you decrease the volume of the louder noises while increasing the softer noises, balancing out the audio so all of the sounds are relatively similar in regards to volume. This setting can especially help with varying audio streams, like when commercials come on and they're much louder than what you're watching. In fact, volume leveling is a great trick to use on Roku TV to eliminate the loud commercial problem.

Some TVs also have specific sound mode settings, like Movie, User, or Standard, similar to the preconfigured visual setting modes you'd select when changing picture quality. If this is the case, you'll find these settings tucked away in a system menu related to Audio or Sound. You may even find one that refers to dialogue or speech, like Clear Voice.

If you own a soundbar or surround audio system, you can try doing the same with the audio mode settings on that device, by checking preconfigured modes or altering speech-related settings. But your best bet is usually to adjust the equalizer, which is often tucked away under Advanced settings in the Sound or Audio menus. When boosting dialogue, you want to focus on the frequencies between 2kHz to 6kHz, which is right around the range of a male or female human voice. By gradually boosting the toggles or dials in these ranges, using the graphic equalizer, you may be able to improve speech volume and clarity.

Finally, there's the option of upgrading your audio setup for something that supports better quality, such as Apple's spatial audio technology or Dolby Atmos. The easiest way to do this is with a modern soundbar or an upgrade if you have an older system. There are some excellent TV soundbars engineered for audiophiles and pristine audio streams. If you've been using the built-in speakers on your TV, you may notice a huge difference in audio quality and volume even with a small, relatively inexpensive soundbar.