LG 4G (VS985 4G LTE) sound scratchy earpiece and spekaer

[Android Central Question]

The sound on my LG smartphone has started acting up. When in a phone conversation, I stop hearing the person for a while, then it comes back. When I switch to speaker, the sound can be normal loud, then scratchy and real quiet for a while, then shifts in and out.

This symptom also happens in the ringer (speaker) and YouTube videos.

The Bluetooth seems to work just fine.

If I (gently) tap the phone on a tabletop looking for a bad connection, it makes no difference.

Also, this happens with both the earpiece and the speaker, so I feel it is not a speaker related issue, although may still be a hardware issue. I have quite a bit of knowledge in both hardware and software, and it sounds like a hardware problem.

Is there a common amplifier that simply changes it's output from earpiece to speaker? or other common hardware that may cause the problem.

Of course it might be a software issue, but it has been working fine for years so...

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks, Mark.

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! Does this happen in Safe Mode as well?

 

[Cool Javelin]

Hi, B. Diddy,
I just registered and this original post is mine.
I just tried the "safe mode" trick, (I did not know about that, thanks for the tip,) It made no difference, sound still scratchy or even non existent from time to time.
I am leaning toward replacing the speaker, but I find it hard to believe both earpiece and rear speaker failed at the same time (or within a few days of each other.)
Thanks, Mark.

 

[B. Diddy]

Hmm, that's beyond my scope of knowledge. I like your idea that it could be due to the DAC -- not sure how to diagnose that, though, or how easy it is to repair.

 

[Cool Javelin]

More news, I played a you tube video today, and the sound is perfect. The issue is only with the phone app, and also with messaging app. I tried a setting called "voice enhancement" and it did not change. Any ideas?
Thanks, Mark.

 

[B. Diddy]

Have you asked your carrier about it? I wonder if it might be an issue with call quality from the network.

 

[Cool Javelin]

Hi B. Diddy: Thanks for the suggestion. I did think about that, but the call audio is good through my bluetooth. I am really leaning toward some kind if app issue, but don't know how to replace the actual phone app (yet). I'll keep beating this dying horse for a while and report here from time to time.

 

[Cool Javelin]

O.K. my bad. I just played another YouTube video and the sound was scratchy like in the phone. Now I'm beginning to lean toward hardware failure. I'll get back here after I find out.