The Volume of VoiceOver Sound Effects and Other System Sounds can be Significantly Louder than that of VoiceOver Speech

Category
Miscellaneous
Severity
Serious

Description

On occasions, the volume of VoiceOver sound effects and other system sounds can be significantly louder than that of VoiceOver speech, including when using headphones. This issue most frequently presents itself with the following combination of settings:

  • VoiceOver's new "Match Speech Volume" setting in Settings> Accessibility> VoiceOver> Audio> Sounds and Haptics set to on.
  • The "Change with Buttons" toggle in Settings> Sounds and Haptics set to on.
  • The sound volume in Settings> Sounds and Haptics set higher than the volume of VoiceOver speech.

While the above combination of settings most consistently produces the aforementioned inconsistencies, we have also noticed volume fluctuations when both VoiceOver's new "Match Speech" option in Settings> Accessibility> VoiceOver> Audio> Sounds and Haptics and the "Change with Buttons" option in Settings> Sounds and Haptics are enabled.

Bug First Encountered

iOS 13.0

Device(s) bug has been encountered on

iPhone

How often the bug occurs

Sometimes

Workaround

While the below workaround has some drawbacks, in our experience, the sound level across VoiceOver and other system sounds is usually more consistent with the below combination of settings:

  • Enable "Change with Buttons" in Settings> Sounds and Haptics. Note that the volume of the ringer, alarms, and other notifications will follow what is set with the volume buttons.
  • Disable "Match Speech Volume" in Settings> Accessibility> VoiceOver> Audio> Sounds and Haptics and set the sound volume to 80% in that same screen.

Status

Fixed

Fixed In

iOS/iPadOS 13.1

Options

Comments

By Mister Kayne on Saturday, December 5, 2020 - 23:11

Wondering if the same issue is dealt with which I am facing. When making a outgoing call, the caller tune is very loud. I cannot hear VoiceOver and the button options listed on my screen even though I have Audio Ducking turned on. Another interesting fact is that a new control on the screen has been introduced that reads as Dismiss Context Menu; what is the functionality of having this button. They could have directly provided controls to the phone options like Mute/ Keypad/ Speaker/ Add Call etc.