Will a soundbar help?

[Sammo123]

Morning,

I have tinnitus which most of the time doesn't bother me, however when I'm watching tv I can barely hear what's being said during a normal volume conversation and find myself turning the volume up and up until I can hear. Of course as soon as something loud happens it's unbelievably loud and I then have to turn the tv down again and the whole process starts again!

I've been thinking about buying a soundbar to hopefully amplify the quieter stuff but I don't know if I'm going to be in the same boat with having to turn it up and down all the time. Do they make much of an improvement?

[Tony1963]

If you have a Richersounds nearby, give them a call, explain your concern, and book a demo. Then you'll know for sure.

I suspect a decent soundbar, properly set up, will help enormously, but it's for you to decide.

[legzr1]

Most av amps and decent sound bars come with something called DRC - dynamic range compression - designed to stop massive changes in volume (dynamics) for times like late night viewing but it’s worked well for my elderly parents too.

They set the volume to a comfortable level where speech is audible and then don’t have to worry about huge swings in volume.

The Arcam solo sound bar has this feature and I can thoroughly recommend it - the fact it uses mid drivers of a quality far above that of any TV makes speech far clearer anyway.

[Tony1963]

One thing to watch out for:

Make sure the telly/pvr/disc player aren't trying to play 5.1/Atmos etc through just two channels. Speech often gets lost in that set up.

[FlossyThePig]

I have tinitus but since I started wearing hearing aids it's no longer the problem it was. I only notice it now when someone brings up the subject or when I'm in a very quiet situation (late at night with no TV, radio, etc.).

Speech on TV is a general problem, not just for people with hearing issues. I bought a Orbitsound P70 soundbar from John Lewis when I upgraded our TV (old 32" to new 40") last year. It has improved speech audibility but it can't solve actors who mumble. There are times I resort to turning on sub-titles.

[Sammo123]

Tony1963 said:

One thing to watch out for:

Make sure the telly/pvr/disc player aren't trying to play 5.1/Atmos etc through just two channels. Speech often gets lost in that set up.

I've had a mess around with the settings this morning. The tv is currently set to Auto on the sound type (Dolby etc). I think I've managed to make it slightly better but I'll have to wait and see.

[Tony1963]

Fingers crossed!

[Fonzey]

Bizarrely this came up on my YT recommended feed last night and I watched it for no apparent reason, sounds like it might be perfect for what you need?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bn3hKbl9f-U

[hornmeister]

I feel for you as my tinitus causes the similar issues. Separating voices out from background noise is the main issue yet my hearing is still sensitive enough to value an SACD over CD.

As others have recommended 5.1 (or more) set-up separates the dialogue onto the centre speaker away from music and effects channels and any decent set-up will allow you to vary the volume of each accordingly. If dialogue is an issue you can boost just this centre channel as well as have the dynamic range compression etc that has already been mentioned.

Whilst a soundbar will try and mimic this it's really not a perfect solution and I would guess that you''d need to spend quite a bit (probably as much as an AV amp & 5 speakers) on a decent one to get the results required.

Just a quick browse of Richer Sounds (Other Hifi retailers are available)
https://www.richersounds.com/tv-home-cinema/home-c...
Shows starter packages from £250. You mat want to spend a bit more or select a different amp / speakers depending on future proofing aesthetics etc.