Am I going deaf or does everyone on telly mumble theses days?

[CaraBosse1]

Just watched first episode of Pretty Little Lies - God, the mumbling!

First series of House of Cards, I kept putting subtitles on because I couldn't understand Kevin Spacey.

Watching McMafia the other night, I kept saying to DH "eh, what did he say?" to which DH replied "Dunno"

Am I going mutton and jeff or does anyone else struggle to follow dramas because of the bloody mumbling?

Adverts are also broadcast louder than programmes - so you hear the sodding jingles/catchphrases even if you're in another room eg making a cuppa.

I know I have a problem with my hearing (measles as a child) and have just done that test, which almost made me cry, and it says I don't have a problem!

Graphista yet broadcasters consistently deny that they broadcast the adverts louder than the programmes. The experience of people hearing the damn things at ear splitting volume is dismissed entirely of course.

Exactly I can tell just from if I'm in my room reading and dd watching tv in living room (other end of flat both doors closed) when the programme is on fine then adverts - booming bloody jingles!!

I don't have any problem with live broadcasts or sports commentary. I do have a problem with dramas both British and US and with comedy panel shows, though usually not game shows e.g Pointless or the Chase.

I am going to get my hearing tested anyway.

I'm also struggling. Don't watch much tv it's all pretty inane. If I'm going to read subtitles I may as well read a book. I'm in my 20s hearing isn't amazing, deaf in one ear but still the other ear is normal.

I’m feeling vindicated after reading this thread. I’m constantly asking dh to turn it up as I can’t hear a word anyone says and he says just me. Anything I watch on Netflix seems particularly bad.

I didn’t know about the music / speech audio settings so will have a look at that so thanks to whoever said that.

Struggling with Sarah Lancashire in Kiri.

Me too. She talks very fast as well as mumbling and doing an atrocious 'Bristol' accent

Then again, I think I'm just going a bit corned beef in my old age. I can't hear a thing basically anyone says on telly, not just obvious suspects like Tom Hardy in Taboo and that chap in, was it called Cardinal? Canadian noir thing.

Same here, although I blame acting techniques rather than my hearing or the TV. I still think the acting can be naturalistic AND clear though!

Gosh I had a very clear issue when I did the action for hearing loss test. So I must be more deaf than I thought! I have upper register loss (all bass no treble).

Even if the online test shows no issue go to the Dr for a proper referral, if you are experiencing hearing issues don't let an online test result dissuade you!

Why go for a hearing test if you're getting by in everyday life?

I'm definitely finding this a problem. Have just investigated sound settings on my TV and there was a choice between "Dialogue clarity" ON or OFF. So have turned to ON and hoping that'll improve things!

Had no idea this existed so thanks to PP for flagging the possibility up.

And who would want Dialogue clarity OFF anyway??

We were talking about this at work the other day, either we are all going deaf or it is a problem with tv nowadays. We ranged from 22-late 50s.

McMafia is difficult because of the mumbling and the fact that so much of it has subtitles.

I tried to watch Little Women and gave up because it was impossible to decipher what they were saying.

I gave up on "Wolf Hall", which I had been looking forward to with great anticipation, half way into the first episode, because I couldn't cope with mumbling actors in under-lit sets.

I am also in the subtitles crew, can't watch hardly anything without them.
Mumble mumble. So bloody annoying.

Oh yeah, everything has to be super dark n all. That means its edgy. And the male actors MUST NOT EVER BLINK. Watch them . You'll see.
I love watching black and white films where everyone fires off witty dialogue at 100 miles an hour and I can hear it all.

My suggestion for a hearing test was for people having a wider issue than TV obvs. If you have a difficulty don't ignore it, if it is just the mumblecore generation of TV programmes giving you grief then subtitles and sound setting adjustments are all you need.

I ignored and minimised my hearing issue for years, since getting my 'aids life has been considerably easier and more joyful since i hadn't realised how little birdsong I had been hearing ... Spring has a new dimension for me now. So I am probably a bit Evangelical about hearing tests now

Is it all male actors or just the one with fake gruffy huffy voices that don't blink? There might be a link if it's the latter!!

I have the same problem, but had my hearing tested quite recently and it's OK so as far as I'm concerned it's them. And my tv's soeakers are crap, so I've plugged some computer speakers into it, and it's better, but still not great.

At some point I shall be replacing the tv (it's always been rubbish, never buy a Toshiba tv, and their customer service are rubbish too).

So glad it's not just me! Reviews would be more useful if they included critique of the audio/intelligibility.

Hmm. Maybe is is the huffy gruffy ones come to think of it..

I just mentioned this to someone a few days ago, I was getting worried about my hearing and she said she felt the same. I'm not sure if it connected to a new TV we had a few months ago. I must look at settings and see if I can change them. I have subtitles on alot lately.

Oh yeah, everything has to be super dark n all. Yes I've noticed this as well, I've abandoned a couple of things, either Netflix or Prime can't remember which, I adjust brightness, contrast etc and it was just so dark. Why do they do this? We'll all be having hearing and sight tests.

Oh, thank goodness because I thought it was me! I put the subtitles on too but, Dd gets the hump when I do. It's driving me crackers.