Sieghard, I also experience this, but what I have wondered is if VO in fact is switching not just volume levels, but perhaps from the speakerphone mode to the earpiece. I am not sure this will be easy to confirm, but I might be able to try with a microphone. Of course I could be wrong, but it just seemed to me this is a possibility.
On Oct 20, 2012, at 4:00 AM, Sieghard Weitzel <siegh...@live.ca> wrote: > Hi Alex and Grant, > > I also have this issue on my iPhone 4S with iOS 6 and you are correct, > Grant, this was not a problem in iOS 5 and apparently it affects only a > relatively small number of iOS 6 users right now. I had a pretty > comprehensive email exchange with Apple Accessibility about this since I > consider it a very annoying and important bug. I was told to try and switch > off SIRI as apparently this is caused by something else using the audio on > your iPhone. When I did turn off SIRI and made a speakerphone call to my > credit card inquiry line at first there seemed to be little difference > except that I seemed to be able to turn the call volume down way lower than > before when pressing the volume down button during a call only lowered the > volume slightly. However even with volume set to 100% using the rotor VO > came out very quietly. I then turned the volume way up with the volume > buttons and suddenly Voiceover came out loud if not exactly clear and it > seems to fluctuate a lot for me when I press different numbers. Some are > loud and clear and others are not so loud and a bit fuzzy. I then turned > SIRI back on and experienced the same behavior. I reported this all back to > Apple and was told in a reply that they are investigating this. Overall > after I urned off SIRI and then turned it back on I can use the speakerphone > a bit better, I just have to turn the volume up fairly loud with the volume > buttons. I know VO volume is supposed to be independent from call volume and > I can't do this if I am anywhere near people, but it's at least a bit better > now and anybody who has problems with this please try turning up the call > volume when on speakerphone, make sure you don't cover the top fo the phone > with your hand as this causes the call to switch back to earpiece. I'd > suggest you try it first before you turn off SIRI, but if it doesn't make a > difference turn off SIRI and try it, then turn it back on and by all means, > do report this to accessibil...@apple.com so they get a better understanding > of the scope of this. For those who are interested in hearing it from the > horse's mouth, here is part of the email thread: > > Message from Apple: > > Hello, Sieghard, > > Your response clarifies that you are accessing the features correctly. The > Viphone site confirms that you are not the only 4/4s user experiencing this > behavior... and also that you are acting as spokesperson for several of > these, which we appreciate. > > All details from your reply have been forwarded to the team investigating > this issue. > > It is possible that you will be asked for some specific information about > what's on your phone, or details of how it is configured; because the number > of 4/4s owners affected by this behavior in iOS 6 is small, it is possible > that the behavior is related to something else installed on your phone, or > an unexpected combination of configurations. You may discover common > threads of this nature while discussing the problem with others; the things > that would be most likely to be involved would be things that use the > iPhone's audio and speech generation subsystems. either specialized or > relatively uncommon software add-ons, or something in the way you and others > have configured settings that would be different than that 'normal' or most > obvious ways. > > So if anything of this sort comes to your attention, it may help our team to > hear of it. So far, no one on the team has been able to reproduce the > problem, using equipment that has no additional software installed. > > We'll let you know if we have additional questions, or if a possible > workaround needs testing; because we cannot reproduce the problem, we may > in future ask you to try one thing or another. > > For now, there is no need to reply unless additional information comes to > light; we will be back in touch when appropriate. > > Thank you. > Apple Accessibility > > Message 2: > > Sieghard, > > Something I may not have asked, that could be a factor: do you have other > assistive software that uses the speaker turned on? Siri, perhaps, or other > software you've added to your iPhone that speaks or gives audio prompts > while you are using the phone? > > Thanks, > Apple Accessibility > > My reply: > > Hello, > > I do use and have always used SIRI from day 1. However, in iOS 5 the volume > problem did not exist. I can't think of anything else I use and in any case, > I did do a factory restore a few days after I upgraded to iOS 6 as I had a > few other minor issues and I setup my phone as a new phone. I had this > volume issue with calls even before I installed a single third-party app > after my restore so I don't think this would be the problem. > > Regards, > Sieghard > > Apple's reply: > > Hello again, Sieghard, > > Thanks for the quick response. > > Siri counts as a possible component of the problem, even though it's ours, > and even though it works great, and predates iOS 6. ANYTHING that uses the > sound subsystems is of interest. > > Because most iOS 6 owners seem not to have observed this problem (whether > it's because they haven't noticed, or haven't experienced it, we have no way > of knowing), it would be helpful if you could turn Siri off, for long enough > to see if that makes a difference in the VoiceOver-Speakerphone behavior. > We don't want you to live without Siri, of course, but there have been some > indications that Siri and VO in iOS 6 when used together may not always > behave as they did in iOS 5. > > Could you give SpeakerPhone and VO a try without Siri, please, and let us > know if it makes a difference? > > Thanks again > Apple Accessibility > > My report: > > Hello, > > I followed your instructions and turned SIRI off. I then cleared the app > switcher (force quit all apps) and rebooted my phone. After that I called my > credit card company and I discovered that at first there was no difference, > e.g. I could turn the call volume down and it seems maybe I could turn it > down lower than before. However, turning the rotor volume for Voiceover up > to 100% still made Voiceover speak very quietly. I then turned up the call > volume very loud and suddenly Voiceover also came out relatively loud over > the speakerphone. This of course should not be linked and there is a lot of > inconsistancy in that when I enter numbers some are spoken very loud and > some are spoken a lot quieter, as I entered my 16-digit Mastercard number > the volume fluctuated for different numbers. > > I then turned SIRI back on and as long as I turn the call volume up to quite > loud Voiceover still came out of the speakerphone quite loud, but still with > those same variations. It seems there is now no difference from when SIRI > was off although it almost seems to me that turning SIRI off and on made > some difference. > > In short, I now realized that I can use the speakerphone better if I turn it > up very loud, of course I can only do this when I am not somewhere people > are near and while there seems to be a bit of improvement the ability to > adjust the call volume relative to the Voiceover volume still seems to be a > lot worse than it was in iOS 5. Hopefully a solution for this can be found > so that this works in a more stabil and smooth way again in a future update. > > > Regards, > Sieghard > > Apple's final message at this point: > > Sieghard, > > That was such a wonderfully objective and precise account that I forwarded > it to the team verbatim. > > I will let you know if there's anything else we might want you to try. > > Apple Accessibility > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the "VIPhone" Google > Group. > To search the VIPhone public archive, visit > http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/. > To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/viphone?hl=en. > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the "VIPhone" Google Group. 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