Audio doesn’t always return to correct level after being interrupted by VoiceOver when audio ducking is enabled

Category
Miscellaneous
Severity
Minor

Description

Audio levels don’t always return to correct level after being interrupted by VoiceOver when audio ducking is enabled.

You may be listening to music. The audio level is reduced when VoiceOver needs to announce something. But, after the announcement, the audio level stays at the ‘ducked’ level rather than reverting back to the previous level.

Bug First Encountered

iOS 8.0 or earlier

Device(s) bug has been encountered on

iPhone 6 Plus

How often the bug occurs

Sometimes

Status

Fixed

Fixed In

iOS 9.1

Options

Comments

By dvdmth on Wednesday, April 8, 2015 - 20:42

Personally, I did not observe this bug until iOS 8.1, though it may have been present in 8.0. When the bug occurs, the only way I found to get rid of the problem is to turn VoiceOver off and back on. Toggling the audio ducking option does not resolve the issue.

I will also note that VoiceOver speech is not the only thing that can trigger the issue. I had the bug occur after adjusting the volume with the side buttons, for example. That said, it definitely does not happen if VoiceOver is disabled, so VoiceOver is ultimately causing this to happen.

By Aidan JK on Sunday, November 8, 2015 - 20:42

I am finding with iOS 9.2, that if Voiceover is allowed to finish speaking, the volume rises to normal again. If interrupted by a single 2-finger tap, however, the volume remains quiet. Flicking to a button to the right or left is the easiest way to get it to go back. For me this seems like a new bug in iOS 9 but as ever I'm sure we can look forward to a fix fairly soon.

By jwk_rp on Sunday, November 8, 2015 - 20:42

In reply to by dvdmth

Also encountered on an iPhone 6 Plus, another way to clear the problem once encountered is to shutdown and restart the iPhone.
I also found it first on iOS 8. The problem for me is most likely to occur in the Podcast app (which got totally messed up in iOS 9 - what the #@$%@ were they thinking!! by taking a near perfrct app and made significant functional changes along with significant bugs!!).

By Ann Harrison on Sunday, November 8, 2015 - 20:42

Whebn you get a call and you interrupt voiceover while your phone is ringing, the volume can stay low after audio ducking occurs.

By raaj on Sunday, November 8, 2015 - 20:42

I'm not keeping the audio ducking on, but it's still happening for me while I'm listening to any video mainly from the facebook and I had to close the facebook for recovering the correct audio volume.

Raaj.

By Dwight on Friday, April 8, 2016 - 20:42

I have a 6 running 9.3, and this still happens sometimes. Normally, if I play around with the volume buttons when the phone is unlocked, it rectifies itself.

By Ekaj on Wednesday, March 8, 2017 - 20:42

I've recently noticed this too on my mid-2013 MacBook Air. It happens both in Night Owl and iTunes when VO is on, but after about a minute or so it resolves itself. I have the sounds turned on in Night Owl, so that's why I bring it up. Other than that though things are working great for me.