Anyone else have a problem with sound?

Rosemarie

Rosemarie

Well-known Member
Location
England
Here in Britain, we get television programmes from various countries, mainly Australia and America as well as our own. On British and Australian programmes, I have no trouble understanding what people are saying...male or female, whatever the accents. However, with American programmes, no matter how high I turn up the volume, I'm struggling to understand what is being said. I presume it's a technical problem, something to do with the sound equipment....or it could be the way they actually speak. Does anyone else have this problem?
 

"Here in the USA, we get television programs from various countries, mainly the UK. But when It comes to listening to UK stuff, I can't understand what is being said. Does anybody have this problem?":)
YUP!!! Brits mumble. They don't enunciate , either. :) But I do think there's a problem with the audio portion. I don't think the audio parts are equivalent-with different standards and levels.???
 
I try to steer clear of programs that have speakers I can't understand, for whatever reason.
If people can't be understood, they shouldn't be on the air.
 

Last edited:
I find that certain programs have "background" music that many times obscures the dialogue, particularly on the ID channel. I have tried adjusting sound controls on my TV but the problem persists.
 
[h=2]Anyone else have a problem with sound?[/h]Yes. While I hear the sound, I can't always make out what is being said. This is especially true with real people more than the TV. For the TV, I usually have the closed captioning on. Somehow, even if I'm not relying on it, it helps me "hear" better. Too bad real people don't come with CC, like in comics!
 
C'est Moi said:
I find that certain programs have "background" music that many times obscures the dialogue, particularly on the ID channel. I have tried adjusting sound controls on my TV but the problem persists.
Click to expand...

We experience this too. It is annoying.
If we watch Midsomer Murders or some other British show I have to turn the sound louder.
 
Yes. My relatively small old Vizio tv has poor sound quality at any volume. Going louder doesn't make it clearer. I didn't realize how much I relied on closed captioning until I got Amazon programs that didn't have it. On my to do list to go to best buy or some place that has gadgets to improve the audio output with out costing too much.
 
I'm 71 and have no problems with hearing or understanding TV programs. i also have no problem understanding most accents, but then we are used to many accents here in Hawaii. I also have no problems with British accents. Maybe as I get older this problem may crop up. My dad is 92 and is hard of hearing but won't do anything about it. I hope I wouldn't be that stubborn if I ever that to that point.
 
I have a very inexpensive flat screen television, sometimes the picture and the soundtrack get out of sync for a few minutes making it hard for me to follow the dialogue.

It reminds me of the old Japanese horror movies that had English dubbed in over the original Japanese soundtrack.

Sometimes I misunderstand one word in the dialogue and that sends my mind in an entirely different often inappropriate direction. :):playful::eek:nthego:
 
.

I'm American and many times even I have problems understanding certain voices on US television.

Just recently I turned off a program where I couldn't understand half of what they were saying in "English" !

Btw... the problem is living in a modern "Tower of Babel"... my hearing and my TV audio are excellent.
 
I understand most British accents quite well on TV, but it took a little getting used some of them. If someone speaks too rapidly, I'll get lost tho'. Fortunately that doesn't happen often.

It doesn't seem I have any hearing problems, yet.
 
I've gotten in the habit of using the closed captions to read the words they are saying. I use them for nearly every show. The British ones have the worst sound quality, IMO. And it isn't the accent, I have no trouble with British accents per se. It really is the sound quality.

And with many of the shows that have musical backgrounds, they pipe in the music much louder than the voices of the actors.
 
Rosemarie said:
Here in Britain, we get television programmes from various countries, mainly Australia and America as well as our own. On British and Australian programmes, I have no trouble understanding what people are saying...male or female, whatever the accents. However, with American programmes, no matter how high I turn up the volume, I'm struggling to understand what is being said. I presume it's a technical problem, something to do with the sound equipment....or it could be the way they actually speak. Does anyone else have this problem?
Click to expand...
I have the problem when trying to understand what some English people are saying on British shows, not all English people but some especially if they speak rather fast. On the other hand, some shows seem to be made at a low volume and I have to turn my tv up more. And then there's the fact I seem to be losing my hearing somewhat. I can hear better out of one ear than the other. I'm supposed to get a hearing test.
 
Falcon said:
I try to steer clear of programs that have speakers I can't understand, for whatever reason.
If people can't be understood, they shouldn't be on the air.
Click to expand...

I don't have good hearing. What I do is, I use closed captions. All accents welcome.

And the back of the T.V. has an earphone jack. Earphones are the way to go for quality sound.
 
Camper6 said:
I don't have good hearing. What I do is, I use closed captions. All accents welcome.

And the back of the T.V. has an earphone jack. Earphones are the way to go for quality sound.
Click to expand...
I use the CC all the time. It really helps a lot unless the captions start flying by like a few of them do--then I quit watching the show. I have to check the back of my tv and see if there is a headphone jack.
 
Sound issues on British TV programmes are a problem.Modern TVs are often blamed but there is no issue with old programmes on the Gold channels or the modern American ones I watch.Music drowning out the dialogue is also an issue.I do wonder if all American shows are filmed in the dark sometimes!!
 
Thanks, everyone, for your responses. This seems to be quite a common problem. Nice to know I'm not the only one. The problem of music drowning out the dialogue is a separate one but extremely frustrating, especially on documentaries. They go to a lot of trouble and expense making these programmes, then ruin it with loud music.
 
Yep me too. especially Irish, Scottish tv series...and also many US shows, probably why shows such as Swamp people,(Southern drawl) they use English subtitles
 
Rosemarie, check your TV set in the "Menu" area for sound,
if the treble and bass are listed separately, take off some bass
and add some treble, failing that you might have a choice of
different situations like "Sport", or "Drama", or "Cinema", try
each one.

Do the same checks on any separate TV box, like Sky or Virgin,
or BT, or Talk Talk.

Finally if you have a box and a TV separate, set the volume on
one, I suggest the box at 100% and use only the TV volume to
control the sound, my brother had problems with his sound and
this was the trouble, his box volume was down low and he was
unable to increase the sound with his TV remote.

Mike.
 
Mike said:
Rosemarie, check your TV set in the "Menu" area for sound,
if the treble and bass are listed separately, take off some bass
and add some treble, failing that you might have a choice of
different situations like "Sport", or "Drama", or "Cinema", try
each one.

Do the same checks on any separate TV box, like Sky or Virgin,
or BT, or Talk Talk.

Finally if you have a box and a TV separate, set the volume on
one, I suggest the box at 100% and use only the TV volume to
control the sound, my brother had problems with his sound and
this was the trouble, his box volume was down low and he was
unable to increase the sound with his TV remote.

Mike.
Click to expand...

Exactly, Mike...Good post!!
 
Furryanimal said:
Sound issues on British TV programmes are a problem.Modern TVs are often blamed but there is no issue with old programmes on the Gold channels or the modern American ones I watch.Music drowning out the dialogue is also an issue.I do wonder if all American shows are filmed in the dark sometimes!!
Click to expand...

I agree !!!
 
I think a few things are to blame here: overpowering background music, fast talkers, poor sound equipment, local accents, and (hate to say it) old age. We use closed captioning for many shows now. Sigh.
 
Furryanimal said:
I do wonder if all American shows are filmed in the dark sometimes!!
Click to expand...
Haha. A bit off topic, but this always reminds me of the old rock band maxim: "If you can't play well, PLAY LOUD". When I see a movie or television program having a lot of scenes that are filmed in the dark, I take that to mean the creators know they're lousy at cinematography.

:grin:

 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top