Both sides in one ear
Stop losing half of a movie or half of a conversation when one ear is doing more of the work than the other.
Music and movies are recorded in stereo — a left half and a right half, sent to different ears. It is a lovely effect in a concert hall and a nuisance everywhere else.
If one ear is doing more of the work, or if you wear one earphone and leave the other out, half the recording never reaches you. In a drama, the dialogue is often placed in the center and the effects to one side. Miss one half and you can lose a line of speech entirely.
Mono audio solves it in one switch: both halves are added together and sent to both ears. Nothing is lost, whichever ear is listening. Anybody who walks about with a single earbud in turns it on for exactly the same reason.
Key points
- Send both halves of every recording to both ears with one switch
- Weight the sound toward whichever ear you would rather use
- Find the same setting on a computer, under Accessibility rather than Sound
- Explain why a line of dialogue can vanish in stereo and not in mono
What to remember
- Mono audio and balance sit together under Accessibility, then Audio and visual.
- Mono trades the sense of left and right for the certainty that nothing is missed.
- Windows keeps mono audio under Accessibility, then Audio — not with the volume controls.
Try this
Put one earphone in and play something you know well with Mono audio off, then on. The difference is immediate, and it is the clearest demonstration of any setting in this course.
Practice: Both sides in one ear. Your first lesson is free, with no account or card; the rest are part of a Lantern plan. Interactive lessons require JavaScript.