Voice Boost Soundbars

InsideTheParker

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Although my hearing is sensitive in terms of noise, and I never listened to loud rock music like most people I know, I have noticed lately having difficulty getting the dialogue from some movies and television dramas. Apparently this is a common problem. I have been looking at this: https://zvox.com/collections/accuvoice/products/av100-accuvoice-speaker

What say you, does that work? I am really only interested for this reason, as I am fairly satisfied with the musical quality of our several TVs, although I am prepared to be wowed by improvement there also. My husband keeps his den TV VERY LOUD, and there is no doubt his hearing is impaired. I am wondering if something like this would allow him to turn down the volume.

IS ACCUVOICE LIKE OTHER VOICE BOOSTING SYSTEMS?
There are numerous systems that claim to make voices more clear, and most of them do provide some improvement. But most other systems focus on equalization -- a fancy name for tone control -- to make certain frequency ranges louder than others. Equalization is only one small part of what the AccuVoice system does. By combining compression, consonant-range boost, formant enhancement, minimization of bass output -- plus some proprietary techniques we would rather not divulge, the ZVOX AccuVoice system creates outstanding results. Listen for yourself!

WHY CAN'T I UNDERSTAND VOICES ON TV?
Hollywood is mixing sound for drama, not clarity. We recently Googled the phase "hard to understand dialogue movies" and got 162 million hits. Hollywood is using more adventurous audio mixing techniques – often resulting in unclear dialogue. Ann Hornaday of the Washington Post recently described a blockbuster Hollywood movie as having "a muddy, thuddingly loud sound design, in which the score and similarly thumping sound effects render spoken dialogue a submerged garble." She's not the only one complaining. Dozens of web articles in the last two years complain about soundtracks with muddled, hard-to-understand dialogue. From Downton Abbey to The Walking Dead to football announcers, it's an epidemic.
 

johnmd20

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I got a ZVOX Soundbar for my mother in law because she has trouble hearing. It's awesome and you can turn on the voice boost anytime. Or turn it off anytime, it's all on the remote, one button. And it sounds great. They make solid stuff.
 

YTF

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I bought my first "big" flat screen Tv about 6 years ago. I did a bit of research before buying it and things pointed in the direction of a Samsung, Sony or LG. It was one of those right place at the right time situations. There was a Sear Hometown Store in Bennington VT that was closing and all TVs in stock were 50% off. I walked out with a 54 inch Samsung (considered big back then) and was thrilled with it. The picture was great and overall I thought the sound was pretty good, but began noticing when watching movies that I was often turning the sound up and down, especially when there was music in the background of what was going on in the scene. If there was dialog, I had to turn up the volume to hear was was being said over the musical score. When the music stopped I had to turn the TV back down because the dialog would then be too loud. It got to the point of being distracting. So I went to the interweb and learned that a sound bar would most likely solve my issue. I want to say that I spent $129-$159 on a sound bar that would be compatible with my TV and the problem was solved. I'm sure there are tech savvy folks hear who can give better advice as far as specifics go, but it sounds like you're experience is similar to mine. Good luck.
 

SumnerH

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Take a look at this.
Lots of good advice there.

It's also worth considering getting a real set of speakers. Soundbars are an obvious upgrade from TV built-ins, but still generally pretty crappy compared to a decent set of speakers. A good set of speakers will enhance vocal clarity and music quality; the ZVOX will probably do #1, but not #2.
 

InsideTheParker

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Take a look at this or this.
I have been poking around using the suggestions from the first link on the kitchen Roku and the LR Samsung. The former seems to have only the most primitive settings, but the Samsung has enough possibilities that I may have made a difference. (The second link covers additional appliances we don't have.)
I used the baseball game currently on mlbn. Unfortunately, there were no unclear movies on! Movies from the thirties and forties (TCM) like the Wolf Man movie on currently are very clear. It's usually newer movies, like Gone Girl, which I tried to watch a couple of days ago, that are hopelessly muddy on my TVs.
 

Koufax

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We have a ZVOX soundbar. It's pretty good. Easy to set up and use, it brings the voices forward to the extent that you can choose with the remote.
 

NortheasternPJ

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Support local and get the Zvox. They’re out of Swampscott MA and designed all locally. I’ve had various ones over 10 years and our main TV is a AV-203. I bought my dad a AV-103 last year and reports from my mom are he can now hear the words and volume is down 50% from peak levels. If your main concern is voice volume they’re great with like 7 different settings, we usually use Level 4. The small ones aren’t great for bass etc but that’s to be expected.
 

blueline

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My mother and father are both in their 60s and have poor hearing. They have multiple different ZVOX soundbars for their TVs and speak very highly of them.
 

NortheasternPJ

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They’re all old Cambridge Soundworks people from back in the day. They’re not trying to be super high end now but have a niche in the people who can’t hear. They sell like 30k units on QVC in like 30 min consistently.
 

InsideTheParker

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They’re all old Cambridge Soundworks people from back in the day. They’re not trying to be super high end now but have a niche in the people who can’t hear. They sell like 30k units on QVC in like 30 min consistently.
I am seriously thinking of getting the 203 in copper because they're on sale. I assume most people don't like copper? I'd be getting for the Roku TV in the kitchen, b/c the Samsungs seem to be improvable by fiddling with the settings. My husband's den TV is already not as loud, for which I thank @Harry Hooper with all my heart!
 

Tharkin

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Although my hearing is sensitive in terms of noise, and I never listened to loud rock music like most people I know, I have noticed lately having difficulty getting the dialogue from some movies and television dramas. Apparently this is a common problem. I have been looking at this: https://zvox.com/collections/accuvoice/products/av100-accuvoice-speaker

What say you, does that work? I am really only interested for this reason, as I am fairly satisfied with the musical quality of our several TVs, although I am prepared to be wowed by improvement there also. My husband keeps his den TV VERY LOUD, and there is no doubt his hearing is impaired. I am wondering if something like this would allow him to turn down the volume.
I can't speak to voice boost soundbars, but another option that might be worth considering--especially for your husband if he is cranking the volume way up to hear dialog--might be some wireless TV headphones. I'm pretty hearing impaired and went my whole life understanding probably half or less of the speech in most TV and movies I watched, even with the volume loud enough to be annoying to everyone else in the room. Some years ago I got a set of Sennheiser TV headphones and it was an absolute revelation. I could understand what the announcers were talking about during a ballgame, I could hear footsteps and birds and doors opening--sound effects I never would have known were there--I could even hear those super soft movie whispers. It was set up so you could have audio to just the headphones (multiple sets if you want,) just the TV speakers / soundbar, or the headphones and soundbar at once. Total game changer for my household.
 

InsideTheParker

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I can't speak to voice boost soundbars, but another option that might be worth considering--especially for your husband if he is cranking the volume way up to hear dialog--might be some wireless TV headphones. I'm pretty hearing impaired and went my whole life understanding probably half or less of the speech in most TV and movies I watched, even with the volume loud enough to be annoying to everyone else in the room. Some years ago I got a set of Sennheiser TV headphones and it was an absolute revelation. I could understand what the announcers were talking about during a ballgame, I could hear footsteps and birds and doors opening--sound effects I never would have known were there--I could even hear those super soft movie whispers. It was set up so you could have audio to just the headphones (multiple sets if you want,) just the TV speakers / soundbar, or the headphones and soundbar at once. Total game changer for my household.
I made that suggestion several years ago and it was shut down. I have been looking at the Sennheiser and am struck by the wide range in prices. I guess that might make a big difference in results. I may pursue this again if the lower volume from the den doesn't persist. The funny thing is, he doesn't even seem to notice that the volume is lower the last couple of days! A Patriots game with no booming from the den, amazing.
I am happy for you that you have found a game-changing, life-changing solution to your problem.
 

LoweTek

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I have a ZVOX and have zero complaints. The sound is excellent. It does voice boost and sounds very good although I don't normally use it. I have an SB500 which is a bit more feature rich and therefore more expensive. I assume you could go to a lower cost model if voice boost is your only concern
 

InsideTheParker

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Unfortunately our Samsungs don't have any more inputs and none of the inputs was of the right kind for the ZVOX. The Roku TV, which needs it the most, does have the right input, so I will be getting one.
 

LoweTek

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So ZVOX does need a TV input. It uses the optical TV output. Inputs on the TV aren't relevant to its use. Most all TVs of any recent vintage have this optical output.
 

InsideTheParker

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So ZVOX does need a TV input. It uses the optical TV output. Inputs on the TV aren't relevant to its use. Most all TVs of any recent vintage have this optical output.
I mispoke. Meant to say output. I don't have either of the two outputs that the ZVOX says it needs on either of the Samsungs. We got them only a few years ago when lightning knocked out our old ones, but maybe we got lesser ones that were on sale?
 

LoweTek

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I mispoke. Meant to say output. I don't have either of the two outputs that the ZVOX says it needs on either of the Samsungs. We got them only a few years ago when lightning knocked out our old ones, but maybe we got lesser ones that were on sale?
Doubtful. It's highly likely they have optical outputs. You should double check, Google the models, etc. An HDTV I purchased in 2006 had an optical output. It is the primary way to transmit TV audio (antenna originated material, etc.) to external audio devices such as Audio Video receivers, etc. Sometimes it's called SPDIF but more than likely it's labeled 'optical.'

If you send me the brand and model number(s) I will be able to tell you for sure.
 

SumnerH

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Doubtful. It's highly likely they have optical outputs. You should double check, Google the models, etc. An HDTV I purchased in 2006 had an optical output. It is the primary way to transmit TV audio (antenna originated material, etc.) to external audio devices such as Audio Video receivers, etc. Sometimes it's called SPDIF but more than likely it's labeled 'optical.'
S/PDIF is usually coax (but is occasionally optical). TOSLINK is a more common label for optical outs.
 

InsideTheParker

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Doubtful. It's highly likely they have optical outputs. You should double check, Google the models, etc. An HDTV I purchased in 2006 had an optical output. It is the primary way to transmit TV audio (antenna originated material, etc.) to external audio devices such as Audio Video receivers, etc. Sometimes it's called SPDIF but more than likely it's labeled 'optical.'

If you send me the brand and model number(s) I will be able to tell you for sure.
I have HDMI, coaxial, and RCA cable outputs on the Samsung tvs. The RCA cables seem to be much bigger than the photo of the input on the back of the ZXOXX. Anyway, they are in use for the DVR. The only thing not in use is a little hole labeled "service." The LR Samsung is UN32D4003BD; tthe BR tv is UN32H003FXZA. Anyway, the LR Samsung has responded well to some tweaking, so I probably wouldn't need anything more for that one.
 

cgori

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I have HDMI, coaxial, and RCA cable outputs on the Samsung tvs. The RCA cables seem to be much bigger than the photo of the input on the back of the ZXOXX. Anyway, they are in use for the DVR. The only thing not in use is a little hole labeled "service." The LR Samsung is UN32D4003BD; tthe BR tv is UN32H003FXZA. Anyway, the LR Samsung has responded well to some tweaking, so I probably wouldn't need anything more for that one.
Based on those model numbers:
-I agree that your LR TV does not have optical/digital audio out. (In fact I think I have a very similar TV to this for the spare bedroom and it doesn't have one either!)
-I can't find that exact model number for your BR TV online - there are model numbers that are very similar to what you listed, both with and without optical/digital audio out. One review lamented the "lack of audio outputs" :( - but again, that's not the exact same model number. I tried to understand the numbering scheme for Samsung's TVs for about 5 minutes and it was nearly impenetrable to me.

I'm sure you are thinking (quite rightly) "I told you it doesn't have them" - this is mostly a reminder to me of how fast the feature set has been moving in TVs over the last ~7-9 years!
 

InsideTheParker

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Based on those model numbers:
-I agree that your LR TV does not have optical/digital audio out. (In fact I think I have a very similar TV to this for the spare bedroom and it doesn't have one either!)
-I can't find that exact model number for your BR TV online - there are model numbers that are very similar to what you listed, both with and without optical/digital audio out. One review lamented the "lack of audio outputs" :( - but again, that's not the exact same model number. I tried to understand the numbering scheme for Samsung's TVs for about 5 minutes and it was nearly impenetrable to me.

I'm sure you are thinking (quite rightly) "I told you it doesn't have them" - this is mostly a reminder to me of how fast the feature set has been moving in TVs over the last ~7-9 years!
Thanks for taking the time. The Samsungs are annoying in this respect, but otherwise are quite satisfactory.
 

LoweTek

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I apologize if I confused matters, ITP. I have and have had quite a few TVs in the past 10+ years, (mostly Samsung until recent Sony purchases), all have had optical outputs. An HDTV I purchased in 2006 had one... I just double checked a 40" Samsung I have which is over 10 years old and even it has an optical output. I assumed any recent vintage TV had optical. I guess I was wrong. I did not mean to be misleading.
 

Red Sox Physicist

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Since your TV doesn't have audio output, another way to do this is to use a soundbar that has HDMI passthrough. As long as everything you're watching on the TV is through HDMI (like a cable box, satellite box, or Roku) and not the TV directly (a built-in smart TV app or the TV's internal tuner) you'll be able to get sound that way. You'd hook the boxes up to the soundbar over HDMI, and then the soundbar to an HDMI input on the TV.

This Polk Audio soundbar has HDMI passthrough and "Voice Assist" which boosts the center channel. Polk usually has 50% off sales for Black Friday.