Database Users

Volume muffled when set on a flat surface

I've noticed this issue without a case and with the Otterbox.
Ringtone volume is cut in half if it's sitting down on a flat surface. If it's propped up a bit, the volume gets twice as loud, making it easy to hear from another room.
Has anyone else noticed this and done something about it? Was thinking of trying to find something small to stick to the back of the phone that would raise it up a bit when it's set down.

It's just science. Pressing the speaker against a surface will always muffle it. But raising it slightly above a hard surface will cause the sound to reverberate off the surface and will make the volume sound louder.
I have a piece of velcro (the soft side) stuck to the back of my phone where the Google logo is that I use to mount the phone with in my car. It achieves the effect you desire perfectly.

That is because the ringtone sound comes from the speaker on the back of your phone. Cover it up and it is going to get lower. Put it on its face.

kbizzle said:
That is because the ringtone sound comes from the speaker on the back of your phone. Cover it up and it is going to get lower. Put it on its face.
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But, the OP is right that it will actually sound the loudest if you have it on it's back, slightly raised, so the sound is reverberating off the surface. And, if you are using it as a speakerphone, you will muffle the mic by laying it on it's face.
I personally wouldn't have added the velcro just for this reason, but it does come in handy when using speakerphone at my desk.

I can understand the science behind it. I didnt realize he was trying to achieve maximum sound, just that it was going quiet on him. Even with my Diamond, I used to cup my hand around the speaker to direct the sound at my face while I watched Youtube. Still use the technique with my Hero.

The flip side to this is that it seems to have much better sound quality when it's set down on a hard surface. Music sounds much better when my phone is sitting on my desk than when I pick it up or have it in my shirt pocket. Seems to have better bass when lying down, less "tinny" sounding. (Not that you're every going to get *amazing* sound out of such a tiny speaker, though.)

doojer said:
It's just science.
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LOL.
10chars.

Maybe you could design something like this for the Hero.
http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/aircurve

Tikerz said:
Maybe you could design something like this for the Hero.
http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/aircurve
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or this one
http://blog.makezine.com/iVictrola.jpg

I thought my phone's speaker was broken!!! I wondered why after returning it 4 times, it still sounded muffled when I set it down.
Thanks for all this helpful information.

joelmalachy said:
I thought my phone's speaker was broken!!! I wondered why after returning it 4 times, it still sounded muffled when I set it down.
Thanks for all this helpful information.
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Apparently someone didnt get an A in science!!! Lol.

Hey guys I have a related question. When I SCUBA dive with my phone I can't hear it ring and it gets all messed up when I get out of the water. Anybody else notice this?

scirio said:
Hey guys I have a related question. When I SCUBA dive with my phone I can't hear it ring and it gets all messed up when I get out of the water. Anybody else notice this?
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LOL! Use a ziplock bag.

scirio said:
Hey guys I have a related question. When I SCUBA dive with my phone I can't hear it ring and it gets all messed up when I get out of the water. Anybody else notice this?
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I have a little different problem. When I put my phone on silent mode, I can't hear the phone ring. Is there something wrong with my phone?

Ha ha, here is some more proverbial wood for the fire **wood**. Hopefully it is enough to keep the flame going.

Tikerz said:
I have a little different problem. When I put my phone on silent mode, I can't hear the phone ring. Is there something wrong with my phone?
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I'd take it back to the Sprint store. Something's obviously messed up.

Am I high, or was there really an entire thread created to ask this question.
PS. When my phone rings I pick it up and there seems to be another human at the other end...whats going on here?

coldsweat said:
PS. When my phone rings I pick it up and there seems to be another human at the other end...whats going on here?
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That's just the government spying on you. Nothing to be worried about.

Its the census guy. Tell him nothing!!!!

my new phone is giving me headache. why? this is science. lol new bluetooth.

[MOD] Speaker hole enlargement

Hey all, watching some flash videos today made me notice how poorly the N1 puts sound out the back speaker, even compared to my old G1. I remember back in my Blackberry days that people used to mod the backs to "let more sound get out", and so I started looking into this...
First off, the speaker is GINORMOUS in relation to the slit. If you look inside the back where the speaker is, you can see a little internal grille, and the small slit for sound to escape. There's also a TON more room where that grille isnt attached to the back (same shape as the slit, only about 5x the size) that could be milled out pretty easily, and still retain the "keep crap out of the back" feature of the grille.
So, this leaves me with a few questions:
Where can I get a replacement back, in case my mill catches a bit more than I anticipate?
Anyone else interested? I figure if I set up to do one, I might as well bang a few others out instead of setting up multiple times.
Once I get a second back, I will be going at this with pics and hopefully notable improvement in projecting sound into my hand, and back toward my face!
I might not be a software hacker, but when it comes to this sort of thing, I figure its the best way I can give back to the community!

Give HTC support a call and tell them your cover doesn't line up properly(I don't think any of them do) they'll send you out a replacement. If they don't they can sell you one for ten bucks I think.
Hope to hear good results from your mod, might do it myself.

I actually think the small slit does something to amplify the sound..
Take the back off, play music, put it on. Notice it gets louder when you place it back on..
I don't know though, but I'll be following this thread!

Wisefire said:
I actually think the small slit does something to amplify the sound..
Take the back off, play music, put it on. Notice it gets louder when you place it back on..
I don't know though, but I'll be following this thread!
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Yea, I think the OP should test and see if there's even a noticeable difference without the back cover. I would think not...

Try removing the cover, sounds WAY worse.

Yes, I completely realize the back sounds bad off, its acting as a resonator, or isolating front from back waves of the speaker, which causes phase cancellation. Thus why im not removing the cover, just making the one hole bigger. It SHOULD not lose the "low end" that it has with the back on (if you want to call it that.
Either way, Im hacking at least one up, Ill post results!

Do it. (poor phone!)

I would suggest to replace the speaker with a Desire one, some people who have both phones pretend it's way louder on Desire, and yes it's the same form factor and size so it should fit

It is quite a bit louder without the cover but sounds bad due to the lack of resonance.
Shouldnt be too bad with just an enlargement, make sure you put something to block out dust. Let us know how it goes.

I've found that attaching one of these to the back quite useful...

or try a vuvuzela

I think the engineer who designed that whole was well aware of resonance qualities. If you make that whole and turns out better, you should apply to HTC job hehe...

@Hummeroid
Good idea ...
What about drilling mini-holes arround the "slit" ?
Instead of making ONE BIG hole ...

Very Interesting mod idea...I think the small drilled holes would be an effective test.

Or just cup your left hand around the back of the phone.

I looking for the out come of this.
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App

mrbkkt1 said:
Or just cup your left hand around the back of the phone.
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hah, I've never seen anyone else do it, but I do this all the time if I'm showing people a video or am in a noisy setting (ie. party)

clickwir said:
hah, I've never seen anyone else do it, but I do this all the time if I'm showing people a video or am in a noisy setting (ie. party)
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Nah, everyone does it.. I mostly do it when I want to listen to something quiet, I can turn it down and redirect the sound towards me.

I actually have a really good pair of earphones. I prefer that the main speaker is in the back, instead of in the earpiece like some phones. Prevents earspeaker blowout and call quality is damn good with this phone so far.

mrbkkt1 said:
Or just cup your left hand around the back of the phone.
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I try to put it up against a wall. Your hand can work to absorb sound waves, thus deadening sound and lowering overall quality; but drywall bounces the sound waves back nearly impeccably. Desks, etc, any hard surface should do the trick.

Case to "fix" the low speaker volume issue

Everyone here is probably familiar with the DHD speaker volume issue.
The GSM Hero also suffers from a similar problem except that hardly anyone complains because the battery cover acts as a passive diaphragm which amplifies the audio from the tiny speaker. Removing the cover makes the Hero sound just like the DHD.
That got me thinking... a properly designed or modified case may be able to do the same for the DHD that the battery cover does for the Hero.
I'd be interested to hear feedback especially if someone has a DHD case that they think would make a good candidate. Mods might include patching the speaker hole and etching a speaker port.

if you have the design and wanted to make it happen. Why don't you try kickstarter? I am sure there are a lot of DHD owner will support you (if your case really works)

I've experimented with several materials but am unable to reproduce the effect seen on the HTC Hero. My best guess is that the Hero's plastic body transmits speaker vibrations efficiently to the large battery cover diaphragm whereas the DHD's solid unibody construction dampens vibrations needed to produce sound from a case.
Another solution may be to build a larger case with a thin film speaker via the headphone jack. A juice pack and kick stand might be cool too.

Has anyone noticed it is twice as loud when laid on its back on a hard surface, like a table? Probably the same idea of reflected sound that Bose engineers dine out on.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App

It's made to be placed screen down when using the speaker, for music anyway.

I use Tasker to turn off the notification sounds at night when phone plugged in (so I can sleep).
I too have very low/bad speaker sound but noticed something weird yesterday and today, if I remove the power (therefore automatically reverting notification volume to 100%) BEFORE dismissing the alarm then the alarm temporarily got very much louder (for maybe a second).
This makes me think the issue is actually software/firmware, particularly as some people seem to think the speak volume is OK. I've tried turning off pocket mode etc, so far no good

Yes, I too observed the same. if i start any game, the initial sound for may be 2 secs is very louder and then fades away to usual self. It might be a firmware issue, but no one from HTC seems to be acknowledging this or trying to provide a fix.

This hasn't got anything to do with the 'make my phone louder when it's in my pocket ' setting has it? Perhaps it knows its on your desk so doesn't crank up the volume?
Just a thought ......
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App

I actually places the speaker on the table to bounce the volume up. It works somehow.

Just thought I'd add that I've been watching videos in bed lately. I prop it up by making a dip in the covers, which bounces the sound back. The sound, especially in dolby, goes from being awful to being really good. In fact I find it better than putting it on a hard surface...

MisterBuggie said:
Just thought I'd add that I've been watching videos in bed lately. I prop it up by making a dip in the covers, which bounces the sound back. The sound, especially in dolby, goes from being awful to being really good. In fact I find it better than putting it on a hard surface...
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Any picture?
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App

just use a custom rom they have increase the volume...
or wait for offical GB that will maybe increase too.
i think 1.84... has an boost?

What I don't like about Galaxy Note

To be fair to all those considering Note, after all praising (I still do think it's best phone in the world right now), there are definitely drawbacks.
Here is one for example:
The regular phone speaker above the screen (not the loud one on the back) is not pointing sound into one direction. You can even speak on the phone with back side of Galaxy Note put to you ear, you will still be able to hear everything clearly, even on low volume.
On top volume, it is comparable to speaker phone on some other phones, so if you pick up a phone while surrounded by other people (unless you are in very loud place) they will hear the other person.
While in the office, I noticed myself turning volume down a lot when I pick up the phone.

I dont have this kind of problem , my old Nokia phone does.
Sure someone can hear some of the content near the phone you are talking in a dead silent arwa, it's inevitable.
I feel Gnote already perform quite well compare to the other phones, like HTCs in this area
Sent from my GT-N7000 using XDA App

to be honest id rather it was loud and have the ability to turn the volume down than it be too quiet and unable to turn the volume up
as my mum used to say,if its cold its better to have a coat and be able to take it off if you get hot than be cold and need a coat and not have one

Richy99 said:
to be honest id rather it was loud and have the ability to turn the volume down than it be too quiet and unable to turn the volume up
as my mum used to say,if its cold its better to have a coat and be able to take it off if you get hot than be cold and need a coat and not have one
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It's not a question of whether badly working phone is better than no phone. It's a question of best phone being of high quality. In this case its potential privacy concern.
I switched from iPhones, where it was not an issue. If you put it tight to your ear in silent room, none else hears the person on the other end. Even on loud.
Like I've said above, on Note in silent room regular speaker (not the loud speaker) is comparable to loud speaker on some other phones. You can hear through the phone! Test yourself, make a call with screen side out, battery cover side to your ear, you might be surprised, that it's practically no difference what side you hold it to the ear, even on lowest in-call volume you can still comfortably speak with wrong side of the phone touching your ear.
I have not tried other Notes than mine, but I seriously doubt that it is one time occurrence, seems to me like an engineering issue, not enough sound insulation behind the speaker, just few thin layers of plastic.

If it is such a privacy concern, why not use a bluetooth headset or earbuds? Why not leave the room instead of taking the call in the room?
I mean there are more options that just sitting there letting everyone else hear your conversation if you feel that you have something to hide. But then again, your talking so they naturally are going to hear at least 1 part of the conversation no matter what. So I fail to see how you can really be concerned with privacy when they hear everything you say anyways, right?
If you were that worried about privacy you would send texts, emails or use an IM program to send messages so that no one knew what was being said or talked about. But since you are willing to sit in the room and let them listen to what at least you are saying, then you are not overly concerned with them at least hearing part of the conversation.
When I get a call that I dont want anyone else to hear I either leave the room, put on my earbuds or tell the person I will call them back when I can talk. So really it isnt about privacy concerns at all, it is just an inconvience for you to know that the speaker is loud. Louder than you are used to at least.

Fuuny that you mention this because i never thought i'll use those bt headsets until i own the Note. Each time i put it in my ear, my worry is not the volume but the number of heads turning towards me and the the sheepish grin that follows.
--- --- --- ---
A damn proud Galaxy Note owner.

Maybe try turn down the volume and using a case.
I wonder how those HTC phones perform because they all have ear speakers that are wide across the width of the phone itself.

eksasol said:
Maybe try turn down the volume and using a case.
I wonder how those HTC phones perform because they all have ear speakers that are wide across the width of the phone itself.
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Lol..the speaker grill on HTC phone what we call it, is just a gimmick. If we see inside, the speaker none the less is only small portion on the middle side
Sent from my GT-N7000 using XDA App

Astrum said:
While in the office, I noticed myself turning volume down a lot when I pick up the phone.
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That's a really good point. Something else to improve in the Note2 along with moving power button!
Sent from my Amiga GT-N7000 using XDA Premium.

A possible fix to low in-call volume

Recently I found my Z3c had a dramatic drop in earpiece volume. I could barely hear the caller's voice when in a quiet surrounding (like office or home), and impossible to follow the talk when outside. This was quite annoying, because it's a phone and making calls is one of its essentials regardless of whatever extra functions added to it. So I did a lot of work trying to bring the volume back. I rooted the phone (eventually), tried some sound mod, and even worked on the mixer_paths.xml directly. None of these gave me any luck. As the problem seemed irrelevant to the software flaw at the stage, I was thinking about possible hardware cause.
The first thing I did was to open the top side flap, which covers the micro SD and USB. Then I made a call to my voicemail and compared the voice I heard from both the flap opening and the top speaker. I could tell immediately that the sound was much louder and clearer from the flap opening, while the sound from the top speaker was distant and isolated. Wait a sec...
From my research on posts, I was told that there is a film lying on the speakers to make the Z3c dust proof. You can see them through the speaker cuts. To allow the sound goes through it, the film has to be perforated. Could those tiny holes be blocked after spending time with dust, water and soap (yes I did wash my Z3c frequently, thanks Sony for the water proof!). A user did mention the volume on both speakers were much gained after removing those films. I don't want to go extreme, but that did give me a hint.
So I used a pair of tweezers, with pointed tips. I slightly scratched them on those films. Immediately the color changed from dark black to lighter gray. I kept scratching them and made the grey evenly, and made another call to the voicemail. Guess what...the earpiece volume was noticeably increased! Then I airbrushed those films and tried again, this time I could not tell the improvement, but the sound was loud enough that I could hear the voice even from a distance. Now the sound coming from the flap opening would also match with that from the top speaker. I would call it a success.
To summarize: what I did was simply cleaning those meshed films on the speakers, by scratching dust off them. These films can be penetrated if you pushed too hard, so please be gentle. And I'm not sure if this trick would work for others, I'm just sharing my experience, with a good wish that this could work for others who are also bothered by the low in-call volume as I was. Still, try those software fix as well, as the cause to the same phenomenon may be different.
Thanks for reading. Let me know your comments/thoughts/tricks and treats (Happy Halloween!)

Thanks for sharing, I have same issue --- did you test its waterproofing if it still works after cleaning the speaker's mesh?

Has anyone issue with the lower speaker? I actually tried to touch it, its very hollow --- are all units like this? Thank you.

Shizuwi said:
Thanks for sharing, I have same issue --- did you test its waterproofing if it still works after cleaning the speaker's mesh?
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Had it showered once, nothing wrong so far.

today-g said:
Had it showered once, nothing wrong so far.
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done, so far great improvement with sound, i can hear the other person on the phone better --- but not sure about my bottom speaker, its very hollow.

This was one of the reasons why I'd sent in my phone. I thought the speaker was broken. Seems they've just cleaned or replaced that mesh because the volume works well on the returned phone.

Thanks for sharing :good::good:

I push chewing gum in to the grills and mic to clean them out.
Sent from my D5803 using Tapatalk

wow.. it realy works... thanks a lot bro ... !!!

Thx for sharing I'll try it

How does such a thin layer of perforated material manage to block so much sound?

You're my hero!!!!!
I was about to send it back cause of the awfully low earpiece volume. Now that I have cleaned it it's even too loud!
Thanks mate I really appreciated it
Cheers:good:

Great tip bro. Immediate improvement to volume level. However I guess I pushed it further that the sound is now cracking at high volume when the phone rings.
But am still happy that I can hear the other party.
Good job man.

Those of you who are claiming this works, could you please go into your service menu (*#*#service#*#*) from your dialer and run the stereo speaker test? Do both speakers have the same volume output or is one significantly louder than the other?
Sent from the only flagship phone that actually fits in my hand... The Sony Xperia Z3 Compact

So, I'm almost embarrassed to report that I had no issues with my earpiece, but thought I'd give this method of "cleaning" it out a try. I used a piece of chewing gum to remove any dirt from the screen and almost immediately noticed a drastic DECREASE in output from that speaker. Now, calls sound hollow and tinny, and the stereo speaker affect is nearly gone because the top speaker is so much quieter.
I'm afraid that I somehow caused my top speaker to produce less sound by trying this method. I've tried to wipe away any sticky residue caused by the gum, but nothing seems to help. I can't send my phone back to Sony because it's been rooted and they wont honor the warranty. I can't believe that thin piece of speaker grill would actually be able to block sound. What now?

I managed to get higher volume by cleaning the upper speaker with a chewing-gum but my operation removed the thin grey layer. Do you think I've lost waterproof?

zar69 said:
I managed to get higher volume by cleaning the upper speaker with a chewing-gum but my operation removed the thin grey layer. Do you think I've lost waterproof?
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No you haven't. Speaker attached to the lcd panel by a plastic staff so water can't goes inside.. I removed the speaker cover too but i admit without that cover phone looks ugly

2russell said:
No you haven't. Speaker attached to the lcd panel by a plastic staff so water can't goes inside.. I removed the speaker cover too but i admit without that cover phone looks ugly
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OK, thanks.

Has anyone tried replacing both speakers with Z3/Z3 dual/Z3+ ones? I was looking at the pictures of spare parts and it might be possible to put some of those in our Z3c, since the sound on Z3c is really low by default, and the ones on Z3 do sound quite louder.

I had same problem, could barely hear a phone call. I scrapped off the black material protecting the speaker now I can hear through the earpiece. I'm guessing now the phone is not water proof..