How to Use Audio Ducking on iOS for Clearer VoiceOver

In this podcast, Thomas Domville showcases the Audio Ducking feature on iOS. Audio Ducking automatically reduces the volume of background audio when a foreground sound, such as a notification or VoiceOver, is played. This feature is particularly beneficial for accessibility, ensuring that important sounds or speech are clearly audible without being overshadowed by other audio.

To adjust the Audio Ducking settings on iOS, follow these steps:

1. Open Settings: Launch the Settings app on your iPhone.
2. Access Accessibility Options: Scroll down and double tap on "Accessibility."
3. VoiceOver Settings: Scroll down and double tap on "VoiceOver."
4. Audio Settings: Within the VoiceOver settings, double tap on "Audio."
5. Audio Ducking Settings: Within the Audio settings, double tap on "Audio Ducking."
6. Choose Your Preference: In the Audio Ducking settings, you can select from Off, When Speaking, or Always based on your personal preference. Make sure to adjust the VoiceOver Speech Volume to your liking.

Transcript

Disclaimer: This transcript was generated by Aiko, an AI-powered transcription app. It is not edited or formatted, and it may not accurately capture the speakers’ names, voices, or content.

Hello and welcome.

My name is Thomas Domville, also known as AnonyMouse.

I'm gonna be talking to you today about audio ducking.

Now some of you out there are familiar with audio ducking and some that are not.

So let's talk about what audio ducking for those that are not familiar with this feature.

So really what this audio ducking does, it's very useful when you need it, when you want to lower the media sound.

So for example, are you on a phone call and you're talking to an operator or a customer service or whatever it might be, and they want you to check your email and make sure you got something, read it off something, or they sent you a text for verification, whatever not.

Sometimes it's really, really hard to hear that voiceover voice, right?

So having it at the same time, the voiceover can be difficult to hear.

Sometimes it's lower than what their sound is.

Or in my case, I do a lot of music.

So I love listening to the music in the background.

However, if I'm trying to do something with voiceover on the same time, it's difficult to hear voiceover.

So let me give you an example of what it sounds like when you do not have audio ducking on.

So if I turn on music here, I'm just gonna swipe back and forth so you can hear the various sound of voiceover and you'll see what I mean.

It's about the same or if not a little bit less, it just depends on the situation.

So here's the music.

Make sure that what I tell you makes sense.

Mail, no unread emails.

Messages, one unread message.

So it's hard to hear, right?

So you don't have that ability to be able to hear it very well.

Well, audio ducking, by turning this on, it allows you to duck those media or situation that you're in so you can bring up that voiceover on top and make it clear and concise.

Now, for those that are familiar with audio ducking, well, the old fashioned audio ducking allows us to be able to duck, right?

But it was a hard set, meaning that we have no choice but either to turn it on or turn it off.

Well, now we got this new feature where we are able to get a little bit more control of the audio ducking, making it perfect for what you need.

So let's head over to settings so I can show you where the audio ducking setting is, set it up, show you the differences between the different variations that you can have this set up.

And then I will also give you a demonstration what the old hard set used to sound like so you get an idea for if you never heard of audio ducking before.

And if you do like it, how do I get that back to where it was before?

So as I mentioned, let's head over to settings here.

Settings, double tap to open.

It's quite a way down here.

So we're gonna be drilling down the settings quite a bit.

So get used to it and get ready.

One finger, double tap.

Settings, heading.

Now that we have that open, we're gonna look for accessibility.

Accessibility, button.

One finger, double tap.

Accessibility, heading.

We're getting there.

Now swipe to the right until you get to voiceover.

Voiceover, on, button.

One finger, double tap.

Voiceover, switch button, on.

We're getting there.

So now swipe to the right until you get to audio.

Audio, button.

One finger, double tap on audio.

Voiceover sounds and haptics, button.

One more.

Let's go to the right here.

Audio ducking, off, button.

And at last we are here.

So one finger, double tap to open up this.

Audio ducking, heading.

Okay, so as I always do, I like to start at the top left so you can get an idea what the screen looks like.

So I'm gonna do a four finger tap on the top half of my phone here.

Audio, back button.

Where we have the back button.

Now as you swipe to the right.

Audio ducking, heading.

Selected, off.

Now you have three options now.

Instead of just on and off, you now have the option to have this off all the time, or when speaking.

When speaking.

Always.

And always.

So let's talk about those two and what the difference are between the two.

So let's go back to when speaking.

So I'm gonna go swipe to the left.

When speaking.

When speaking.

So if I double tap this.

Selected, when speaking.

This means whenever voiceover decides to talk, what it's gonna do is you're gonna tell it how much you want to reduce the media and how loud you want the voiceover to come up.

So as I swipe to the right here, you're going to get to the volume area.

Always.

The volume of media and calls will be reduced when voiceover is speaking.

Voiceover speech volume, heading.

Voiceover speech volume, 120%.

Now your value may sound different than that.

To be equal, and if you were having off, essentially it would be set to 100%.

So that gives you an idea of where that difference is starts to begin. 120% is my perfect sweet spot.

But nonetheless, back to on track.

What was the old fashioned one?

I think about my guesstimate.

I think it's about 150%.

So you can tweak this by swiping up or down into the value that you want.

So I'm gonna swipe up until I get to 150%.

125%, 130%, 135%, 140%.

Voice, 145%, 150%.

So now that I'm 150%, I'm gonna show you what it sounds like.

And you're gonna say, oh my gosh, that did sound like the older audio ducking presets.

And so for those that never heard this, you will now hear that as I play the music, the music sounds perfectly normal, right?

Until I have voiceover talk, and then you can hear it duck.

And then when voiceover stops, it'll increase the volume back up.

It's a little bit too much for me because it gets a little bit annoying, but I can understand some of those out there that want to be able to hear voiceover a little bit better, maybe have some hearing issues that you need those differences.

So I'm gonna give you a preview what 150% set to when speaking sounds like.

So turn on the music back on.

Voice over speech volume, heading.

See how it increases volume back up?

Voice over speech volume, 150%, adjustable.

Swipe up or down with one finger to adjust the value.

So that is what audio ducking sounds like.

So if you are a big fan of that, well, that's where you go.

So you can put always speaking, when speaking and set it to 150%.

If you need a little bit stronger, set up to 160%, but that'll get you right where you want to.

Now, if that drives you crazy, it kind of ducks too much.

Well, you have two options.

First option I recommend is this, keep it at while speaking, but I'm gonna lower it down to 120%.

145%, 140%, 135%, 130%, 125%.

130%, 125%, 120%.

I'm gonna set to 120%.

The reason I do this is so you're not getting that huge variation, but just enough I am understanding the voiceover quite easily.

So let's hear what it sounds like 120%. 120%, it's gonna get you up and running.

Voice over speech volume, heading.

Voice over speech volume, 120%, adjustable.

Swipe up or down with one finger to adjust the value.

So you don't hear that huge of inflection, but yet I was able to hear it pretty clearly.

All right, so that's why we're doing it.

The other one is to set it to always.

So let's go back to the left until we find always.

Voice over speech volume, heading.

The volume of media and always.

Double tap that.

Selected, always.

Now what always does is that it will always, the media will always be ducked.

So you know how when you set it to 150%, you notice how far down the media went?

That's because he's ducking it that amount.

If you want to have that media ducked down all the time, 120 was a pretty much of a sweet spot for me as well, but it doesn't have the ducking issue.

So in other words, you only have the media that's ducking and soon as it stops talking, that media stays the same.

So it never changes.

So let's hear this example.

When speaking.

Selected, always.

So you don't hear the inflection, it's not going up and down.

The only disadvantage I have on there, if you have it a little bit too wide, so in other words, if you had that set to 150%, well, then it gets to the point where I'm not really hearing the media all that well, because it's stuck down so much.

So if I go down and go to 150% for you to hear.

The volume of media, voiceover speech volume, heading, voiceover speech volume, 120%, adjustable.

Swipe up or down with one finger to adjust the value.

So let me set that back to 150%.

125%, 130%, 135%, 140%, 145%, 150%.

Now when I play the music, you're going to be like, wow, that's really ducked down.

See how much further down it is?

Adjust the volume of voiceover speech volume, 150%, adjustable.

Now I can see why you would want that sometimes.

Like for myself, I play music in the background all the time.

And I like to just to check out the news, whatever not, and that way I can do some little bit of work.

But also when notification comes in, I'm able to hear it really clear.

Now for me, I'm going to set it back down to 120%.

And I'm going to set it to when speaking.

One, one, one, one, one, 120%.

Back down to 120.

Let's go back up here.

Voiceover speech, the volume of media selected.

Always when speaking.

Double tap that.

Selected when speaking.

Voila, that's exactly where I'd like it to be.

But the best part is fully customizable to what you like.

So no more hard set for audio ducking.

Now, before I head out of here, I'm going to show you how I have this set up and my voiceover quick setting.

I like this access better than my rotor.

I don't like to have my rotor too cluttered with things, but if it's up to you and you want to access that via rotor, it makes things a lot easier.

So if I know I'm going to get on the phone or I know I'm going to be listening to some music, but I wanted to automatically set that on, well, you can do that quickly through the rotor or your voiceover quick setting.

So let me show you how to set that up.

Top left, we'll get out of here.

Audio, back button.

Double tap.

Audio, back button.

Double tap the top.

Voiceover, back button.

Voiceover, back button.

Now we're to the main screen where we found audio if you swipe to the right until you find rotor.

Rotor, button.

Once we're here, double tap that.

Rotor items, button.

And one more, double tap.

Selected, characters, actions available.

What are these items?

These are all the items that shows up in your rotor.

Those that are selected are going to be the ones that's going to be shown in your rotor.

A great way to go through all the items that are selected and deselect the ones you don't want, so kind of declutter it.

But we're going to be looking for audio ducking.

So swipe to the right until you find audio ducking.

Audio ducking, actions available.

So if this is something that interests you and you do want it in your rotor, do one finger double tap.

Selected, audio ducking.

And here the selected is turned on.

So once it's selected, it means it's now available through your rotor.

Now, I don't like to put it in my rotor.

That's just my personal preference, but I'll leave it up to you.

So I'm going to deselect this.

Audio ducking.

As I like to keep my rotor pretty clean.

Now, what I like to do, I like to put this in my voiceover quick setting.

So how do you get to that instead or on top of that?

So if you want in both places or one of those places, let's go over to the top left hand.

Rotor, back button.

Double tap.

Rotor, back button.

Voiceover, back button.

At the top left, double tap that.

Voiceover, back button.

And now we're to the main route where we found the audio and rotor.

Guess what?

We're going to swipe to the right until you find quick settings.

Quick settings, button.

Double tap that.

Activities.

Swipe up or down to select a custom action.

Then double tap to activate.

And as you can see, this is very similar to what we saw in the rotor.

Do the vice versa.

So if you do want to have these items selected in your quick settings, go ahead and find the item, select it or deselect the ones you do or don't want.

Now in my case, I'm looking for audio ducking.

So swipe to the right until you find audio ducking.

Selected.

Audio ducking.

Swipe up or down to select a custom action.

Then double tap to activate.

So as you can hear there, mine's already selected, but if this is something you do want, go ahead and double tap that, select it, follow up.

We're now ready to access it.

So anytime I know I'm going to have a phone call or I want to have my background music on, I am now able to be able to change the various audio ducking that we've just gone through.

So what am I talking about?

So let's just say I am going to listen to my music and I want to have the audio ducking turned on.

Let's do a two finger quadruple tap and that gives me access to the voiceover quick settings.

Voiceover settings.

Heading.

Now you're going to swipe to the right until you find audio ducking.

Audio ducking.

When speaking.

Button.

Adjustable.

Swipe up or down with one finger to adjust the value.

And that's a beautiful part about it is that now you're able to access your rotor in quick settings easily.

Just like I did in this case, two finger quadruple tap.

I bring up quick settings.

I swipe to the right to the audio ducking.

When I swipe down.

Off.

I can simply just turn it off when I want.

Or if I swipe up.

When speaking.

I can set it back to when speaking, just like that.

And plus, as a bonus, if you swipe up again.

Always.

You do have the always option.

So if you like that option, you can go to that quickly and easily.

So now for me, I'm going to set it back to.

When speaking.

When speaking.

Perfect.

So now when I initiate my music.

Caption panel.

Switch button.

Off.

It brings the music back up.

Nice and easy.

Not so much.

So that is about audio ducking.

Situation where you would want to use it when you don't want to use it.

And it really comes down to you.

But now you have the power to your finger to customize it exactly to your liking.

Which is beautiful.

Much better than the hard set they had before.

Which I didn't like so much.

And I never really used it.

But now that they give me the more kind of an adjustment to it, I'm using it all the time.

So I hope this helps you and gives you a better understanding what the new audio ducking is like.

All right.

My name is Thomas Domville.

Also known as AnonyMouse.

Until next time.

Bye bye. you