Feature request: add command to adjust volume of all applications except for NVDA #16052
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seanbudd
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This setting should go in audio settings and have a separate command |
seanbudd
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Please also add a "mute all other apps" command. It would be very useful in the following use case: I opening various webpages or browser instances and suddenly in one of them, an ad or another video starts shouting out. It's very difficult with NVDA to find in which webpage the ad is shouting and to close it. |
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I am in favor of renaming the synth settings ring to "settings ring" and start improving it by adding such settings like this to it.
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The synth volume is already part of the ring. |
The settings ring may be a good idea and is actually already tracked in #7747. But it has not even been triaged (you may ask NV Access for this); and it seems that neither NV Access nor anybody else is likely to implement it in the near future. However, #7747 should not block the current issue at all. Tony is available these days and offers to implement the current issue; we should not miss this opportunity because of an endless discussion on the ring. |
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Similar to #16056, I'd personally vote for this to be part of an add-on rather than part of core. |
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After giving it further thoughts in this case I think I agree with @LeonarddeR. We have already the audio ducking feature in NVDA which kind off serves for purposes of this use case. If there is something we can look into, then maybe to add a setting to configure by which percentage the volume of other audio output should be reduced when audio ducking is on. |
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See also #16292 . I'm very concerned that a feature like changing application volume will cause unwanted side effects. |
LeonarddeR
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@Adriani90, @LeonarddeR, |
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@mltony when audio ducking is on while sound splitting NVDA from other applications, the volume decreases on the one side automatically when NVDA is speaking. Or am I wrong? Why should we adjust the volume of other applications separately? |
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The whole point of sound splitting is to be able to consume two streams of audio at the same time. My use case is attending boring online meetings, where you kind of have to listen to what's going on, but at the same time it's not interesting or not relevant enough to occupy your whole attention, so I am trying to work at the same time - like writing code. But when someone mentions your name you still need to catch that. That's why I need to balance the volume on the left and on the right. Ducking doesn't help me at all in this case, because I don't want to reduce volume of other apps. Ducking essentially implies that you are consuming only one stream of audio at a time, whereas sound split is for people who need to consume both streams at at the same time. |
Closes #16052. Summary of the issue: Needd commands to adjust volume of all applications other than NVDA. Description of user facing changes Adding commands to adjust volume of all applications other than NVDA bound to nvda+alt+pageUp/pageDown. Also adding a command to mute all applications other than NVDA bound to nvda+alt+delete. Also adding corresponding settings to audio panel. Description of development approach Making use of sound split code - we already have code to set volume of all other apps, but it's only used to mute left or right channel. Reusing same code to adjust volume as well.
Reverts PR Reverts #16273 Issues fixed Fixes #16409 Fixes #16402 Issues reopened #16052 Brief reason for revert We started with mltony creating: #16051 Feature request: Sound split Which was a duplicate of: #12985 Audio settings with stereo headset (or speakers) - Send NVDA sounds on one side and the rest of Windows sounds on the other side And then implemented by: #16071 Sound split mltony also created: #16052 Feature request: add command to adjust volume of all applications except for NVDA Which was implemented in: #16273 Keystrokes to adjust applications volume and mute This PR was approved and merged and was then found to cause issues: #16402 Unmuting other apps does not work as expected #16409 Apps mute and volume features work very unexpectedly with WASAPI disabled Due to these issues and the considerable debate on the approach, the above PR #16273 was reverted by: #16440 As an alternative to the revert #16440 to resolve the 2 issues (#16402, #16409) and keep #16273, mltony created: #16404 The question now becomes, how do we proceed from here? NV Access's position is that the sound split functionality (#16051) is a useful feature to add into core. However, due to the following reasons, we believe that further work on the volume adjustment features (#16273, #16404) to improve the UX is required on a branch (off master/alpha) before it can be added back in: Windows sound mixer has reasonable accessibility. Sound split on its own provides value to users. The UX of swapping between NVDA volume control and windows volume control needs to be resolved. The UX of resolving volume issues due to NVDA crashes needs to be resolved. As one of the contributors on the threads said, "So now there are two mixers in the chain, one of which can be invisible, and overrides the other, or makes its settings relative instead of absolute."
I propose to add command that would adjust volume of all running applications except for NVDA. As usual, I will implement this myself if approved.
Description
This feature is really an integral part of #16051. The rationale is when we are splitting all sounds into NVDA channel and all other apps channel, there must be a way to control the volume of both channels separately.
As for UI, I see there are two options:
NVDA+Alt+PageUp/PageDown.Prior discussion
#16037
Technical details
Technical detail 1 from #16051 applies here as well as we need to call the same wasapi COM interface.
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