Hearing a single voice in a crowded room can be difficult for anyone, even if the person speaking is right beside you. If you’re in an extremely loud environment, like a sporting event or concert, maintaining a clear conversation becomes nearly impossible. For people with difficulty hearing, using earbuds to make a phone call can sound clearer than trying to hold an in-person discussion in a noisy room. Luckily, your Android phone can help. Google makes a little-known app called Sound Amplifier for the sole purpose of loudening sounds so they are easier to hear.
In fact, Google Pixel phones have Sound Amplifier pre-installed and the functionality is built right into the Settings app. All other Android phones can install Sound Amplifier for free from the Google Play Store. Even if you have a Pixel phone, you probably haven’t encountered Sound Amplifier app yet. That’s because it’s a hidden app that doesn’t appear in your app drawer or home screen until you manually add it. If you don’t go out of your way to try Sound Amplifier, you’re missing out on one of Google’s best Android accessibility features.
Sound Amplifier helps you hear better
It loudens surrounding sounds and the ones playing from your phone
Sound Amplifier uses your phone’s internal microphones to pick up and isolate sounds in your physical environment. To use it, you’ll need to connect wired or wireless headphones. As your phone identifies and picks up the sounds around you, it amplifies and plays them through your headphones or earbuds. If your earbuds support transparency mode, you can leave it on while using Sound Amplifier. You’ll be able to hear the amplified version of the sounds around you while also staying immersed in the ambient noise of your environment.
There are three modes for Sound Amplifier: Off, Phone mic, and Phone media. The options are pretty straightforward — phone mic amplifies the external noise, while phone media amplifies the noise playing from your smartphone. While there are certainly scenarios where you may need to amplify your Android phone’s system sound, the real benefit is loudening the sounds playing around you using the phone’s onboard mic.
To get started, you merely need to tap Phone mic and connect a pair of headphones. After granting Sound Amplifier permission to record audio, you’ll immediately start hearing an amplified version of the surrounding sounds. To get a grasp of how it works before trying it in public, you can connect a pair of headphones and tap the music note icon in the Sound Amplifier app. This starts a demo that replicates the experience of hearing with Sound Amplifier and includes spoken instructions for using the app.
It can reduce noise and boost quiet sounds
If you have trouble hearing in crowded places, this is the app for you
Sound Amplifier does more than simply record and replay audio in your surrounding environment. It uses noise reduction algorithms to limit unwanted ambient noise and amplify the sounds you need to hear. A Boost mode is enabled by default that specifically amplifies quiet sounds and certain frequencies. A slider controls exactly how much quiet sounds are boosted. You can use a separate slider to adjust whether high or low frequencies are boosted. You might want to drag the slider to the low frequency range to amplify deep voices, or to the right to amplify bird calls.
Separately, there is a Noise reduction slider that controls how much ambient noise is reduced while Sound Amplifier is active. By default, noise reduction is enabled, and the slider is set near the maximum. If you drag the slider toward the minimum, you’ll start hearing more static, interference, and unwanted noise. Both the Boost and Noise reduction modes have toggles that can be switched off, but without adjustments, you won’t be able to hear amplified environmental noise with Sound Amplifier.
While I don’t have specific hearing problems, I was shocked at just how helpful Sound Amplifier was in making conversations easier to hear in noisy places. It works particularly great with earbuds that have a transparency mode feature. It makes you feel like you’re immersed in your environment like normal, but rather than simply allowing transparency sounds to pass through, Sound Amplifier uses the earbud drivers to boost the sounds. In a crowded restaurant, bustling coffee shop, or loud sporting event, Sound Amplifier does wonders to help you hear important sounds and hold conversations with people around you.
You can set a custom hearing adjustment for each ear, which is a helpful accommodation for people with a stronger ear. Pick a custom boost and noise reduction setting for each ear to balance out inconsistent hearing if one ear is better than the other. To access Sound Amplifier in a pinch, you can use an accessibility button, a gesture, or a Quick Settings toggle to activate it.
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It’s free for all Android users
Pixel users have the app pre-installed and get exclusive features
Google Pixel users have the Sound Amplifier pre-installed, but it won’t appear in your app drawer at first. They can access it by navigating through Settings → Accessibility → Sound Amplifier or searching for the app in the Google Play Store. From the Sound Amplifier page in the Settings app, tap the Open Sound Amplifier button or click the Sound Amplifier shortcut toggle to make it easier to access. If you have a non-Pixel phone, you can still install the Sound Amplifier app from the Play Store — you just need to navigate to the app’s settings and hit the Show icon in the app list toggle to unhide it.
There’s one Pixel-exclusive feature available in Sound Amplifier, and it’s a big one. It’s called conversation mode, and it uses the camera to isolate only the person’s voice that is speaking directly to you. This is ideal in really loud and crowded rooms that may make it difficult for Sound Amplifier to isolate the right voice. By using the camera, the app can correctly identify and amplify the voice of the person you’re speaking to.
It’s not every day that you stumble upon a helpful Google app that’s pre-installed on your phone (if you’re a Pixel user), but that’s what Sound Amplifier is. If you’ve ever found it tricky to hear people around you in public, give Sound Amplifier a try. It’s free and available on every Android phone.
- OS
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Android
- Price model
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Free
- App Type
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Accessibility
Sound Amplifier is a free app that helps you hear better in noisy places by amplifying nearby sounds. It can isolate voices, cancel out background noise, boost quiet sounds, and tune frequencies. Additionally, you can apply settings individually for each ear to adjust for weaknesses.
