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5 iPhone settings to change now for clearer dialogue
- Improve dialogue clarity by toggling headphone EQ settings for balanced tone, vocal range, or brightness on your iPhone.
- Enhance dialogue separation by switching between mono and stereo sound settings based on how the media was mixed.
- Optimize dialogue quality by turning off spatial audio, adjusting headphone EQ, and changing sound settings in specific apps.
When you're watching a show or listening to a podcast or anything else that has dialogue in it, it can be really annoying if the dialogue just isn't coming through enough. This can be due to mixing, your phone, your headphones, or anything in between where the sound comes from and gets to your ears. iPhones unfortunately don't have a ton of options for sound settings as opposed to Android phones, but there are ways to change your audio settings, either on a device level, on apps, or from headphones connected to your iPhone.
So if you're having a hard time hearing dialogue clearly when you're bingeing a show on Netflix or listening to podcasts, here are some things you can do to improve your sound quality and make it easier to hear spoken word.
From using an equalizer to treating your headphones to a good clean, these quick but effective tips can help you get the most out of your listening.
Set up headphone accommodations
Apple allows you to change the sound profile of some audio products they sell
If you're watching or listening to anything on your iPhone using AirPods, EarPods, Powerbeats, Beats Solo Pro, or Beats Fit Pro, you can use the headphone accommodation settings to adjust your sound profile. These settings can be found by going to Settings > Accessibility > Audio & Visual > Headphone Accommodations. You can choose from three different EQ options: balanced tone, vocal range, and brightness. Vocal range will boost mid-tones, which is what you want if you're looking for clearer-sounding dialogue.
Choose from a database with over 700 headphones' frequency responses to get ideal sound for your favorite headphones.
To make sure that you apply it correctly, toggle on the Phone option to have the settings applied to calls, and toggle on the Media option to apply it to movies, podcasts, audiobooks, voicemail, and more.
Switch between mono and stereo
Depending on the way something was mixed, one may be better than the other
If you have a preference for mono or stereo audio when you're watching or listening to dialogue on your phone, you can change these settings on your iPhone too. You can try both out to see which sounds better for whatever media you're listening to. Your audio settings can be found by going to Settings > Accessibility > Audio & Visual.
Which one is going to sound better really depends on the way the audio was mixed in whatever you're listening to. If you were listening in mono before and you feel like other frequencies are masking the dialogue you want to hear, stereo might help you separate it better. But if you're listening in stereo and the dialogue is panned really far in one direction to the point that it's distracting, switching to mono might benefit you more.
Your iPhone is powerful, but sometimes it could use a bit of help to get the absolute best sound quality.
Turn off Spatial Audio
Spatial audio is a sweet feature for music, not so much for podcasts
Spatial Audio is a cool feature on Apple audio products, but it doesn't really complement voices that well. To get the clearest dialogue out of movies, shows, and podcasts, you'll want to turn spatial audio off entirely.
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To turn off spatial audio, go to the Settings app while you're wearing AirPods or compatible Beats headphones, and tap the name of the earbuds. Then, toggle off spatial audio. When you want to turn it back on to listen to music, you can follow the same steps to go back and toggle it on.
Adjust your headphones EQ
Apple doesn't have support system-wide third-party EQ apps, but headphone apps work
If you are using headphones with an accompanying app on your phone, you can often adjust the EQ to better suit spoken word audio. Some apps have fully customizable equalizers with multiple bands to adjust, and with these, adjusting the mids and highs to be a bit higher, and putting bass a bit lower, will make dialogue sound better.
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These apps also often have presets to choose from. In the list of presets, there's a good chance you'll find one that’s labeled "podcast" or "movie" or something similar. Anything that alludes to spoken word instead of music will suit you here. Just turn one of those presets on and try it out, and you'll be able to tell whether or not it suits the media you're listening to.
When it comes to customizing your sound, you have plenty of options. Plus, here's how to change your EQ on iOS devices.
Change sound settings in individual apps
Some applications allow you to change your EQ in-app
Some apps allow you to adjust the sound profile of the media you listen to directly on the app, which can be really helpful if you only want to adjust the sound of that specific medium, and not have to change it back to listen to something else. For example, if you listen to podcasts on Spotify, you can change your sound profile to better suit podcasts by going to Settings > Playback > Equalizer, toggle on "Also apply to podcasts," and choose the Spoken Word preset. Not every app has options like this, but it's a good idea to explore the settings on your apps to see if they do.
