If you use a screen reader, the concept of audio ducking is likely not new to you. For those unfamiliar with the term, it refers to a concept where any audio outside of a screen reader’s speech is lowered automatically when a screen reader is communicating.
Apple has made some changes in this area that for me have been quite positive. You can now adjust both when audio ducking is applied and have greater control over the level of ducking. This is done with settings changes for both audio ducking and volume in iOS 18.
To make these adjustments, ensure that both volume and audio ducking are items you have added to the VoiceOver rotor. Then use those options as described here.
Previously audio ducking was strictly an on/off choice. In iOS 18, on has been replaced with two choices. You can now have audio ducking set to always or only when speaking. This leaves you with a total of three settings, off, only when speaking and always.
The ability to adjust the amount of ducking is a bit more subtle to discover. In fact, originally when I discovered the option to adjust volume to percentages above 100%, I thought it was a bug. Setting a volume of greater than 100% was not producing any detectable change for me and in fact it seemed odd to be able to set volume to more than 100%.
The way this all works together is that setting a volume of greater than 100% is actually lowering the volume of audio when ducking but controlling the amount of ducking applied. For example, when setting a volume of 105%, the audio that is ducked, is ducked by 5% from the original volume. Likewise, set a volume of 150% and audio when ducked, and audio is half of the original volume.
The ability to adjust the amount of ducking is a welcome enhancement. Depending on the source audio, the amount you want it lowered to still be audible but not impact screen reader speech can vary greatly. The result here is like having a specific volume control for the ducked audio.
Again to use these features, ensure that both volume and audio ducking are added to the VoiceOver rotor. Go into Settings:Accessibility:VoiceOver:Rotor and select those options along with anything else you want to use.
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