This Fire TV Stick feature might be the difference between intelligible dialogue and a hard-to-hear mess.

Have you ever increased your TV's volume while watching a movie because the dialogue is too quiet, only to get blasted by a loud action sequence a few seconds later? Well, you're not alone. Plenty of people complain about modern movies and TV shows having unclear dialogue, making speech hard to understand.

Part of this is down to the shooting process itself. According to Hollywood dialogue editor Austin Olivia Kendrick, modern microphones let actors perform more naturally, but this also means actors are more likely to mumble or speak softly, making speech harder to understand. Older recording equipment often demanded that actors stand in more deliberate positions and project their voices clearly, which is probably why dialogue in classic films often sounds so clear.

This isn't helped by many TVs also sporting a mediocre pair of stereo speakers, which often can't deliver the surround-sound experience modern movies and TV shows are designed for. Without a center channel, voices are usually mixed into the left and right speakers, which already handle background music and sound effects. To combat this, many manufacturers, including Amazon, offer a dialogue enhancement feature that makes voices clearer without requiring you to crank up the volume.

If you use a compatible Amazon Fire TV device, go to Settings > Display & Audio > Audio Settings and turn on Dialogue Boost . Available levels of dialogue boost include Low , Medium , High , Enhanced and Heightened .

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