Prime Video Wants You to Really Hear This Damn Dialogue
If you don’t hear what’s going on when you watch modern shows and movies on TV, you’re not alone. It can be almost impossible to understand what the characters are saying these days, to the point where many of us watch exclusively with subtitles on . There are many reasons why we are in the position we are in today, but you don’t have to suffer in the future. At least not while watching content on Prime Video.
Amazon has launched a new feature for the streaming service that could allow you to finally turn off subtitles, at least for shows you understand the language. It is called Dialogue Boost and allows you to increase the volume of dialogue in a series or movie by muting the background music and sound effects.
Amazon announced the launch of Dialogue Boost in a blog post Tuesday , highlighting how it is supported at launch in select Amazon Originals around the world, including Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan , The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and Harlem , as well as such films. like Big Sick , Handsome Boy and Being Ricardo . Small list, but Amazon is apparently planning to expand this feature in the near future. (God bless.)
The company developed Dialogue Boost primarily as an accessibility feature designed for the hearing impaired. However, like many accessibility features, Dialogue Boost can be useful to many (if not all) Prime Video viewers.
How to use Dialogue Boost on Amazon Prime Video
To find the new Dialogue Boost feature, check the details page for any series or movie. Here you can see if it supports Dialogue Boost. If so, open the audio and subtitle drop-down menu. Here you will see two options for gaining dialogue: “English Dialogue Gain: Medium” and “English Dialogue Gain: High”.
How to start a dialogue on your own
Of course, every time you want to watch something that isn’t compatible with Dialogue Boost or isn’t on Prime Video at all, you’re going back to basics. However, there are some things you can try to improve your listening experience, no matter what and where you’re streaming.
If you are using your TV’s built-in speakers, open the settings menu and experiment with the sound options. Many smart TVs these days have some “clear voice” settings that can offer the same benefits as Dialogue Boost. This may not provide the best overall sound quality, but you may find it easier to hear what the characters are saying. If you’re using a streaming stick or box like an Apple TV, they often have similar settings, like “Reduce Loud Sounds”.
You can also fiddle with the Equalizer (EQ) to try and boost the dialogue yourself. Reducing the bass elements is an easy start as it will give more emphasis to high frequency sounds such as the human voice. According to the Home Theater Guide , dialogue is clearest between 2kHz and 6kHz, so you might want to tweak those areas to see if speech gets clearer.
Your TV’s speakers are unfortunately often awkward to begin with, as they are usually built into the back of your flat screen’s thin frame. Investing in external sound options like a soundbar or a full multi-speaker setup can give you a fuller, louder sound, and some of these speakers come with their own dialogue enhancement features.
My favorite move is to stream with headphones whenever possible. It’s much easier to hear dialogue through headphones than through a standard speaker, plus you don’t annoy anyone around you. This is often impractical or easier said than done, but depending on your device it can be quite simple. Roku, for example, offers a ” private listening ” mode, and Apple TV lets you connect a pair of Bluetooth headphones from the audio settings menu.