Amazon Prime Video Introduces New Feature That Will Help You Actually Hear the Dialogue

For all of you that have trouble hearing the dialogue in Amazon Prime Video shows and movies, your complaints have been heard.

Amazon has unveiled a new feature (screenshot below) to its streaming service Prime Video called Dialogue Boost, which allows viewers to increase the volume of dialogue relative to background music and effects. The feature, which is currently available on a limited selection of Amazon originals, was initially built for consumers who are hard of hearing, but anyone can use the tool to suit their own personal listening preferences.

Currently, Dialogue Boost is available on certain English-language shows, including The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, and Harlem. Some films — such as The Big Sick, Being the Ricardos and Beautiful Boy — are also compatibile with the feature. Amazon will be adding Dialogue Boost support to additional titles later this year, though.

While similar dialogue-boosting features are available on higher-end televisions and theater systems, Prime Video claims that it is the first global streaming service to offer the feature.

But how does this thing even work? Well, Amazon says that the tool utilizes an AI to isolate and boost certain things in the audio. It analyzes the original audio in the movie or show, identifying times when it might be hard to hear the dialogue. Then, the feature isolates speech patterns and enhances the audio to make the words sound clearer and crisper.

Dialogue Boost is currently available on all devices that support Prime Video. To use the feature, you have to navigate to the detail page for a title on the streamer. There, the page will indicate whether Dialogue Boost is available or not. Customers will then be able to choose which level of Boost they want to use through the audio and subtitles drop-down menu.

Of course, the sound level of dialogue is generally set by sound mixers at a certain point for a reason, but we all know how annoying it can be when we simply can’t even hear what’s going on. So, for people who might find it hard to hear Christopher Nolan’s movies, fret not!

For even more on AI, check out IGN’s ongoing AI Week coverage, which includes an in-depth report on how the technology could spell doom for the animation industry and a roundtable with experts like Tim Sweeney.

Carson Burton is a freelance news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter at @carsonsburton.