Help with Audible, anyway to get stereo sound converted to mono for audible books?

Space Lynx · Apr 7, 2021

So I have a new job now that allows me to listen to audible books or podcasts in one ear only, other ear needs to be free.

Problem is, some audible books use both ear pieces when telling the story (for dramatic effects I suppose), but I really need be able to get the entire story through one ear piece... any ideas or advice are welcome.

@TheLostSwede @R-T-B @Mussels @Kursah @jboydgolfer @rtwjunkie

Sorry for all the tags... just really need an answer on this one so I am not staring at the wall all night next few nights at work... haha

TheLostSwede · Apr 8, 2021

Presuming you're using a wired headset, change to mono audio. Not sure if that can be done with a wireless headset.
If you have an Android phone, it's under the accessibility settings.

Kursah · Apr 8, 2021

@lynx29

+1 if you use Android, you can go under accessibility settings and set mono output. Seems to work well enough.

Settings > Accessibility > Hearing Enhancements > Left/right sound balance (won't fix channel output on stereo files though) or mono audio (forces audio streams through mono channel).

In Windows you can go to sound device properties and set balance under volume level settings > Balance button:

johnspack · Apr 8, 2021

Not sure if this helps you, but Audacity can easily convert stereo tracks to mono. Just tried it now.

Tracks Menu: Mix - Audacity Manual

manual.audacityteam.org

R-T-B · Apr 9, 2021

Audacity is my recomendation if you have files. It will mix two stereo tracks to one mono track

Skylined · Apr 9, 2021

Use Foobar2000 and under the DSP Manager you can "downmix channels to mono"

abactuon · Apr 9, 2021

AudioChannelManipulation – FFmpeg

trac.ffmpeg.org

2. Use 'opus' with bitrate 25
3. ffmpeg -i <input_file> -af "highpass=f=200, lowpass=f=3000" <output_file>

Space Lynx · Apr 9, 2021

these are all great recommendations, thank you everyone. This does help me a lot.

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Help with Audible, anyway to get stereo sound converted to mono for audible books?

Space Lynx

Astronaut

TheLostSwede

News Editor

Kursah

Super Moderator

johnspack

Here For Good!

Tracks Menu: Mix - Audacity Manual

R-T-B

Skylined

abactuon

AudioChannelManipulation – FFmpeg

Space Lynx

Astronaut