I want to hear my voice when using Bluetooth headset for calls.

[metropolitim]

This is kind of a weird one, but I've searched for it every way I can think of, every place I can think of, and getting nowhere, so I'm ending up where I should have started: here. Lol

No buds for me, because I can't stand having things poking in my ears, so I'm all headsets all the time. I've been using wired for a long time but after having a bunch of them break in a row, decided to make the jump to Bluetooth but I'm finding it very odd and kind of alienating to suddenly no longer hear my voice in the headsets I've tried with my Pixel 4XL.

Maybe because I was so used to always hearing it with wired sets, and because I used to wear headsets doing radio for many years, but I got used to hearing it.

I know a lot of people hate hearing their own voices, and I see a lot of threads where people are trying to turn OFF the voice in their headsets (usually wired), but I'm really going nuts with this. Even apart from the pandemic, I'm in the phone 3 or 4 hours a day, and it's challenging to only hear myself muffled for all that time, and when I take them off to hear myself better, I invariably miss somebody else on the call asking me something.

I've looked at every setting I can think of on both the headset and the phone, turned off voice assistant in case Google wants control of my mic, etc, but nothing is working, regardless of the brand. (I've tried 4 different ones, so I'm assuming that it's not brand specific.)

And it's not the mic itself. Other people hear me fine. It's just me not hearing my voice in the headset.

Any clues for me?

 

[Scott337]

I'll have to pay closer attention next phone call, bit I seem to think I can hear my own voice with my Moto Hint+ and Moto Boom 2+ headsets? Or maybe just because I tend to talk loud I think I hear it through the headset? I'll try to pay closer attention

 

[Mooncatt]

To be honest, I don't think you are supposed to hear yourself in a call, and doing so would indicate a problem with the phone or headset. I.e. A wired headset that isn't plugged in all the way or has debris in the jack port that interferes with the connection. I wish you luck, but I don't think there is a way to do what you are asking.

 

[Mike Dee]

I've never heard myself with any headset except a bad call.

 

[metropolitim]

I learned that the feature I'm talking about is called Sidetone. Here's the story on Wikipedia, but I can save you a trip. It's been around for around 200 years (not a typo) on landlines, hence being able to hear yourself in the handset.

This thread notwithstanding, sidetone is quite standard in cell phones too. There are 89 threads about it here at Android Central (that search will return 90 results when it's updated now that this thread has the word "sidetone" in it), and a couple hundred at Reddit (here). Admittedly, some people are wanting to turn it off because they don't like it....but again, common.

Sidetone is built into Apple AirPods, and built into Samsung Buds Plus. While not built into Pixel Buds as an electronic feature, Google has added what they call "spatial vents" specifically to allow people to hear their own voices while they're speaking. The cnet review used the phrase "sidetone light" to refer to it, in a positive manner, since not hearing yourself is considered a deficiency in so many quarters outside this thread.

Having confirmed that I'm not imagining things, that I've had this before with other headset and phone combinations, and having learned the actual name of the feature, I got the final clue I needed from @Scott337.

I'll have to pay closer attention next phone call, bit I seem to think I can hear my own voice with my Moto Hint+ and Moto Boom 2+ headsets?

Moto Boom is for straight-up talking, so that makes complete sense. ALL telephony-oriented headsets I've used have sidetone. The telephone experience isn't complete without being able to hear yourself.

But I was also looking for a Bluetooth headset that I could also use for high-quality listening to music. A frequent scenario is that I'm going about my daily rounds (cleaning, cooking, running errands, whatever) listening to music, and I get a phone call. Or, I'm listening to music with headphones on my computer, and then I get a phone call and want to switch the Bluetooth connection from the laptop to the phone, so I wasn't willing to use a headset that made too many compromises with the music.

So I went to Jabra, the company who made my favorite telephony-oriented BT headsets when my work was even more skewed to phones than now. (Now, I'm talking on the phone 2-4 hours a day. Back then, it was more like 6.) And indeed, Jabra now have a number of options for music that sound really good. I can't stand buds, but I also can't stand over ear cans, so it's on-ear or nothing for me, and bingo -- the Jabra 45h Elite.

I went with beige because they were out of stock on navy which I might have preferred, but hey, these look nice I think. (And yeah, they come in black too.)



They really do sound nice for music, and yes, with sidetone for calls! There's a nifty mobile app (both Android and iOS) that allows all kinds of extra controls, including eq for music and calls -- separately, since of course most folks would want them eq'd differently. Sidetone is on by default, as it should be (LOL), but I adore this: you can adjust the volume of your own voice in the headset, as shown in the middle of the grab.



The headphones also work really well connected simultaneously to my laptop and my phone. Listening to Spotify on the laptop while I work, the boss calls on the phone, and the headset handles the transition seamlessly. With sidetone. Then the call ends, and I'm back to Spotify on the laptop coming through the headset.

I paid $99 for these and think they're a terrific value for that, AND it happens that they're on sale for $82 in beige at Amazon. Still $99 for blue and black, so maybe this reflects that I'm the only one who was buying the beige. LOL

So there's the end of my saga. Sidetone is real, has been around since before your great--great grandparents were born, and even though not everybody loves it, the people like me who do can have it today for our favorite phones (and I do love my Pixel 4 XL) at our favorite electronics retailers, or direct from jabra.com.

Thanks again to Scott for the key clue!

 

[Mooncatt]

I guess I can see a reason for side tone when using a full steel headphone set that otherwise blocks ambient sounds. For regular phone calls and headsets with only one ear cup/speaker, you can hear yourself fine. I'm glad you found a solution (and I've learned something new in the process), I'm just having a hard time understanding why that feature has around for so long now. Before stereo headphones were an option, side tone sounds like it would've been redundant.

 

[Laeffe]

Just want to say "thank you, @metropolitim" for you detailed post, just ordered my self a pair of those .

I've been in the same seat as you, I hate speaking with most headsets but haven't been able to find a good bluetooth headset. I have a pair of gaming headsets where the sidetone can be set, I tho think the software call it something else.

For most people that don't think sidetone is important I think they realized that pretty much all phones has had it since, as you sad, 200 years.
Sidetone is one of those things that when they work, you don't notice it.

But sidetone isn't to be confused with echoing or a failed sidetone that has too much delay, many people that uses windows "listen to device" setting will get a delay that only makes it harder to speak.

(Created a account here just to say thanks btw )

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central, and I'm glad this helped you!

 

[anon(40376)]

I have used moto booms for years; great devices and since they go into only one ear, when you talk you are able to hear your own voice via the other ear. This would be the same with any single ear BT designed primarily for talking as well as when using a cell phone or one of those things we used to use; landline phones.

As for the galaxy buds plus; I have those too and guess I should have dug into the setting a big further. There is an ambient tone mode that when turned on uses microphones to allow outside sound, like vehicles, trains, animals, etc. However, due to hiking in the woods every AM with the dogs and due to usually windy conditions I usually have it off and rely on the dogs to signal me if there is something around I need to pay further attention.

However, at times I have had people call me when walking and I use the buds, and I will say, with the ambient sound off, the conversation sounds strange and I do not like it. So, I turn ambient sound On which then allows my voice to be heard inside the buds as an ambient sound.

And I have never thought about why the calls sound bad with the buds with ambient sound off vs. On. Now I know, it is due to the fact, I cannot hear my voice. Rather obvious now that I think of it.

And thanks to this thread, and especially metropolitim, I did some research and actually looked deeper into this app for the buds. Under Earbud Settings there is a whole list of features...
And a setting to automatically use Ambient sound during a call....

And an explanation of why you might want to use it....(and I have now turned that feature On)