Linux Audio for the hard of hearing

kapqa · 2026-01-08 20:02:34

Hello ,

have noticed since long that the Linux experience on Laptop is bit hard to swallow;

the problem is with office lapòtop of various kind
that use randomly;

now this Laptop has dual-boot Windows 10 - Devuan 7.0

and it functions reasonalby well;

however , the audio is still subpar;

whenever listen to various podcast, sometime cannot grasp the meaning of spoken word, since volume is too low.

Understand that the Windows 10 has dedicated drivers (Atmos enabled?) and sound very much better;
but does the Linux Audio really need to sound that thin?

It is a good experience to sharpen the listening curve,
but sometimes it is overwhelming;

now with program like
vlc > can boost to 200%
mpv > can boost to 130%

however, with normal audio being played throught browser or social media app, there is not much space left.

the linux is already alsa-only enabled, and volume is 100%.

Is there an easy way to "boost" the volume on Linux or what can be done to enhance the experience (badly needed on LInux desktop).

Thank you very much.

https://ibb.co/S7NCYnkD

rations · 2026-01-13 12:37:01

Not sure about software but a cheap bluetooth speaker with volume controls helps.

greenjeans · 2026-01-13 16:47:31

You've probably already done this, but on my laptop when you open the alsamixer, there is a "main" volume control, and there is also a "speaker" volume control which is the laptop speaker volume specifically. If both are not at 100% then I won't get full volume on my machine.

igorzwx · 2026-01-15 16:11:40

kapqa wrote:

this Laptop has dual-boot Windows 10 - Devuan 7.0
...Understand that the Windows 10 has dedicated drivers (Atmos enabled?) and sound very much better;
but does the Linux Audio really need to sound that thin?

One might tentatively suggest that the operating system one uses could, in a rather modest sort of way, have a slight influence on how one thinks — nothing dramatic, mind you, just a small tendency to shape habits, decision-making, and the odd worldview. It’s not as if the thing actively reprograms you, of course. More like it gently nudges one’s approach to problems, file organisation, and the occasional existential crisis over software updates. Entirely unremarkable, really.

Of course. One might observe, with only mild amusement, that when a Windows user encounters a spot of bother with Linux, they often struggle to explain quite what they did — let alone articulate the nature of the problem in a way that makes the faintest bit of sense to anyone trying to help. It’s not their fault, really. They’re simply used to the machine telling them what’s wrong, in that passive-aggressive Windows fashion — “Something happened. We’ll fix it. Probably.” — rather than being expected to read a log file or, heaven forbid, recall what they actually did.

So they’ll say, “It’s broken,” with the same level of detail one might expect from a damp biscuit. No error message, no command entered, just… broken. As if the system itself has taken a turn for the worse and needs a lie down with a cool cloth.

Still, one must be charitable. It’s not their operating system’s fault if it’s never taught them to think.

Last edited by igorzwx (2026-01-15 16:14:06)

kapqa · 2026-01-20 17:11:24

mybe it is supposed to be that way, better safe than sorry, as it has been kindly warned here on other important post in the forum

(biological danger of eq and volume)

since am already damaged from bad listening habits in youth (in-ear headphone with too much volume)
consider it a fault on my side (mostly)
and play safe to get the hearing curve more training;

had already other linux laptop
(my second-last laptop from around 2012 came with linux-enabled (chinese)) and had the same problem back then (poor audio-quality from speaker)
(maybe because tend to use office-style laptop)
and at the time came out ubuntu 12.04 which the seller tucked along with the sale and ended up using "pavucontrol" before ridding the system completely of pulseaudio; but the audio was always bit low-volume, sometimes too low.

beffore, used powerbook g4 and although one speaker or microphone was bad, never had such volume issues;
(on mac os x tiger on previous iteration there was also handy feature to boost volume in quicktime playback inside finder)

even before, used windows 2000 professional, and also then never noticed such issues;

but maybe, just my hearing deteriorated, so it is bit unfair to "target" linux that hard;

-------------

Last edited by kapqa (2026-01-20 19:27:23)

Camtaf · 2026-01-20 17:34:50

Linux distros often only set speaker volume to 60~70%, as in days gone by, complaints were raised about the volume being set at 100% out of the box.

Two possible solutions, external speakers or headphones.

Also, as suggested, bluetooth speaker, the one that I bought for £14 off the internet is way too loud for me, if I don't adjust the volume down in Linux before pairing it to my computer.

kapqa · 2026-01-21 18:09:09

still having these issues with volume & understandability

now have tested this video with 3 different setting

https://davidicke.com/2026/01/21/im-her … el-farage/

the quality is from top down, not from boottom down to up;

with 1 hear best, 2 , 3 are very poor;

but even with with option 1, cannot understand the last passage;

maybe someone here can help me outù'?

the passage is at the very end "you know what - "unintelliglbe"?"

thank you very much.

https://ibb.co/MkSqjJbr

(PS. with windows 7 there was a setting to really boost audio, but those setting have been disabled for windows 10 ; now it is "dolby audio" ; sometimes it sound great, sometime however not so much, and in this case, it is not sufficient to understand clearly.

Last edited by kapqa (2026-01-21 18:10:54)

fanderal · Yesterday 21:24:44

kapqa wrote:

what can be done to enhance the experience

Can relate to the hearing issue you mentioned yet I rarely need to raise the volume's default from 50. I've found audio quality and clarity depends on equalizer settings.

For an alsa only setup, I'd suggest greenjean's mxeq pkg... the default .asoundrc file (see /usr/share/mxeq/README) is better than .asoundrc howto examples found online, and equalizer settings can be adjusted in real time, online or local, and saved for various audio/video such as news/talk shows, music, old movies, etc.

igorzwx · Yesterday 23:07:56

fanderal wrote:

For an alsa only setup, I'd suggest greenjean's mxeq pkg... the default .asoundrc file (see /usr/share/mxeq/README) is better than .asoundrc howto examples found online

The Debian ALSA configuration is better by default than many custom ~/.asoundrc examples found online.
Debian (and Devuan) include comprehensive system-wide ALSA defaults via /usr/share/alsa/alsa.conf and card-specific configurations (e.g., HDA-Intel.conf). These enable:

dmix: Software mixing for multiple playback streams.
dsnoop: Simultaneous capture (microphone sharing).
asym: Full-duplex operation (independent playback and capture).
plug: Automatic format, rate, and channel conversion.

These are automatically applied based on detected hardware, meaning most users get a functional, flexible setup without any custom .asoundrc.
Many online .asoundrc examples:

Redundantly reimplement these features.
Use incorrect or suboptimal parameters.
Disable existing working defaults (e.g., bypassing plug causes format mismatches).

Thus, the default Debian ALSA setup is often more robust and correctly configured than typical hand-written user configurations.

The correct approach is to first inspect the system-wide ALSA configuration (in /usr/share/alsa/alsa.conf and card-specific files under /usr/share/alsa/cards/) before making any changes.

fanderal · Today 02:09:04

igorzwx wrote:

The Debian ALSA configuration is better by default than many custom ~/.asoundrc examples found online.

I found that to be true for a long time. However, when hearing began to be an issue and volume wasn't enough, I installed libasound2-plugin-equal to see if an equalizer would get better results. It did, after finding a workable .asoundrc file online for the equalizer. With mxeq installed, the results were finer tuned and I configured/saved some equalizer settings.

These neither helped nor had acceptable results:
/usr/share/doc/libasound2-plugin-equal/README
/usr/share/alsa/alsa.conf.d/equal.conf
/usr/share/doc/libasound2-plugin-equal/examples/asound.conf_equal

Seems you know most every detail in configuring sound. I don't. With only basic knowledge, I found the right tool, improved on it, and now have the quality and clarity of sound I need. Isn't that what post #4 advocates?

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#1 2026-01-08 20:02:34

Linux Audio for the hard of hearing

#2 2026-01-13 12:37:01

Re: Linux Audio for the hard of hearing

#3 2026-01-13 16:47:31

Re: Linux Audio for the hard of hearing

#4 2026-01-15 16:11:40

Re: Linux Audio for the hard of hearing

#5 2026-01-20 17:11:24

Re: Linux Audio for the hard of hearing

#6 2026-01-20 17:34:50

Re: Linux Audio for the hard of hearing

#7 2026-01-21 18:09:09

Re: Linux Audio for the hard of hearing

#8 Yesterday 21:24:44

Re: Linux Audio for the hard of hearing

#9 Yesterday 23:07:56

Re: Linux Audio for the hard of hearing

#10 Today 02:09:04

Re: Linux Audio for the hard of hearing

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