Stereo versus Mono audio settings, they have been with us for decades now, yet not that many people effectively know how to differentiate the two. They certainly don’t illustrate that in the manner they use these setting for best sound experiences on their devices.
These audio settings are available in virtually all electronic devices with speakers. From your TV set, your radio, home theater, tablet, laptop, and even your smartphone. It is interesting, however, to see people walking down the street with just one earbud plugged into an ear on one side of their head.
People do that a lot when they want to continue listening to the radio or music on their phones, while still keeping a keen ear on their surroundings. Well, factually speaking, chances are high, you are missing out on some of the sound experience you should be having if you have the audio settings on stereo.
Typically you will find most people having audio settings to stereo as it gives you an in-depth experience of the sound, with the illusion of directional sound like in real life. One part of the sound comes from the left speaker, while the other part is coming from the right speaker; 3D sound of some sort.
Most users make the mistake of leaving these settings unchanged when they are wearing just one earbud. That means you only hear the sound (music) that was designed to be heard on that side of the ear while missing out on the rest of the sound coming out of the other earbud.
However, switching from stereo to mono mode in the audio setting will give you all the sounds coming from one speaker. In this case, it will be all the sound coming out of the one earbud plugged into your ear.
Turning off Stereo mode in iPhone
Luckily with Apple’s phones, switching between stereo and mono sound mode is easy. Simply go to Settings > General > Accessibility. Then scroll down to Hearing and toggle the Mono Audio mode slider to on.
Now you can go ahead using one earbud, and you can be sure you won’t be missing out any parts of the sounds.