Sound Volume Not Loud Enough? Here Is How You Can Boost It

By
Kent Chen
-
127

I have a laptop that has a sound issue for a long time. The sound volume is just not loud enough even though I maximized all the volume controls I can find on that machine. It’s been bothering me so much until lately, I decided to dig a little deep to see if there is anything I can do about it.

It turns out, there is indeed one option built right in Windows that could boost up the sound volume without buying or installing any hardware or software. If you are struggling with the same sound issue like mine, here is what you can do.

1. Right-click on the speaker icon at your system tray, and choose Playback devices, which opens up the Playback tab in the Sound dialog box.

Sound property playback devices - Sound Volume Not Loud Enough? Here Is How You Can Boost It

2. Right-click the device, and choose Properties.

Right Click sound device - Sound Volume Not Loud Enough? Here Is How You Can Boost It

3. In the Speakers properties window, go to Enhancements, and check “Loudness Equalization” option.

Speakers properties enhancement loudness - Sound Volume Not Loud Enough? Here Is How You Can Boost It
Loudness option to boost the sound volume

To turn it off if you find the sound volume is now too loud, go to the same place and uncheck the Loudness option.

Note that this tip works on Windows 7 and above systems, including Windows 10.

That’s about it. Enjoy the boosted volume from your speakers or earphones.

/Update on Feb. 24, 2018/

For those who don’t have the Enhancements tab to enable Loudness Equalization, here is a free tool FxSound called you can try to crank up the volume on the speaker. Once installed, click Presets > Select, and pick Volume Boost from the list or whatever one that fits you.

FxSound - Sound Volume Not Loud Enough? Here Is How You Can Boost It

/update on Jan 30, 2019/

Unfortunately, FxSound is no longer offer the free version. It runs as a 7-day free trial and then you will need to pay to continue using it.

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127 COMMENTS

  4. I’m listening the a lot of music and unfortunately this works only for some songs. If you have songs which are louder then this options limits (or cuts off the volume).

  5. Thank you so much!!! OMG! I have been trying forever to figure out how to increase my volume even though it was all the way turned up! I work as a medical transcriptionist and you just saved me a lot of struggle!!!!!

  7. i fucking hate you microsoft after doing all this bs and boosting with programs its still not even half as fcin loud as windows xp fc u microsoft u fckin f4ggot noob money rapists

  12. I have win 10 ounce I do properties under enhancements I don’t have all them others
    bass boost, virtual sound, room correction loudness equalization

  20. Followed all the above instructions but when in Enhancements, there are no options or tick boxes. It only has a tick box with Disable all sound effects 🙁

  23. Hello Kent, i have windows 8.1 but i cant see the “Enhancement” tab instead i have custom (Contains one check box “Limited Output”) and another called Dolby (with on/off). Is there another way of troubleshooting. Thanks alot

  31. I did this already! I still need it louder. Going to buy an external system to make it better. They messed up from when it was XP to now. They also began to put cheaper little speakers in lap tops. The Desktops had SOUND!!!

  34. this really sucks!
    it’s not a sound boost like you can do in Linux – it’s just a tweak about sound mode.
    FAKE advice!

  45. I have no ‘Enhancement’ in Speakers’ properties. Instead, I have Tone Controls which is just different!!

    i do not know how to fix it yet.

  48. I wasn’t sure if this would make a difference in my case since my speakers and everything worked find. But the thing is, on some youtube videos the volume would be way too low and this really did the trick. Thank you so much!

  49. My Speakers Properties tab in Windows 10 doesn’t show an Enhancement tab and therefore no Loudness Equalization tab. Any suggestions? Thanks

    • You will only be given the option on higher end laptop’s with higher end speakers. For example i have a HP G62 which has ALTEC speakers built in so i got the enhancement option. Budget laptops dont receive the option.

  55. Thank you, thank you! This issue has frustrated me for a long time. I could never figure out why my laptops weren’t loud enough. I don’t even mean crank music loud. Just loud enough to hear a webinar or movie dialogue was all I asked. This was so helpful. Thanks again.

  57. THIS ADVISE IS DEAD WRONG. IN FACT IT WILL MAKE WHAT IS YOUR LOUDEST MEDEA, LESS LOUD! This option is to equalize the “loudness” of all the different media to the same volume level, you know, so you don’t get blasted by something loud (like a commercial on TV,\) and then the next thing is so low you cant hear it. Even I know this, and I’m retarded, and dont have my own website telling others how to do shit. The problem is that these websites are just parroting what they find on another similar site, so now they are all propagating the same misinformation.

    • I agree Buck. This made my laptop quieter. By the way you really made me laugh with your comment “Even I know this, and I’m retarded” I’m going to use this gem for myself as I am also retarded. Thanks.

  69. Did it on my DELL Laptop & Worked GREAT! I was watching a Movie that I REALLY wanted to see, United93. I Googled it, immediately found it! Great! Started the Movie & was beyond bummed out, because I could barely hear it! I felt like I was straining my ears to hear it, which, ruined it. I found your I instructions, followed them, then BAM! Made the sound quality way way way better & much louder heard it perfect! Thanks a bunch!

  72. Works great – especially for my transcription work. I have a basic and old laptop and am only just starting out so this has really helped

  86. Wow! It really works. I never knew fixing the issue with the volume on my computer was so easy. The author of this post deserves to get a standing ovation for writing this gem of an article. I am sure it would have bailed many users, like me, out of the trouble, who would have been experiencing this issue for days, months or, for that matter, even years.

  92. This trick has really helped me a lot by enhancing my Windows 7 normal audio quality to an exceptionally high Audio quality. Thanks a lot for helping me

  93. Oh my, my headphoens have great sound but there’s time when the volume it’s way too low with certain videos, I had no idea this was a thing, thank you so much.

  98. Oh what a shame, I don’t have “Playback Devices” though I have Win10 up to date. Anyone knows if there’s another way to get to it? I was so hopeful of increasing the volume of my Lenovo laptop….Please someone? Thank you!

    • It is now called “Sounds” rather than “Playback Devices” because it opens to the sounds tab rather than the playback tab, but it is the same thing, just change tab.

  101. This worked! A simple step by step solution that I would have never figured out. Now I can heard the videos on Twitter that I strained to hear before. Thanks!

  108. TO ALL THE PEOPLE WITHOUT THE LOUDNESS EQUALIZATION TAB
    ———————————————————————
    Download Realtek Audio Drivers. Then reboot Windows.
    You will now see the Loudness equalization Tab, Note, your audio in Win10 issue will not resolve however, and while I can get more volume from the plain “equalizer” option set to “Treble” I like having the bass, and there is no resolution. Issue has been present since Win10 was installed on both this PC and another PC, same speakers types but different speakers tested on various systems.
    I am convinced the issue is Windows 10, and further convinced that microsoft will NEVER fix it. It is simply something you have ot get used to if you use Microsoft products.

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