How to record and play sound in iPhone app?

Question

I tried using AVAudioSession and AVAudioPlayer to record and play sounds respectively but the sound volume is very low.

I tried putting volume value of AVAudioPlayer to 1.0 and more but didn't help much.

What could be my other options to record sound which can be loud enough to play back?

Are you using the built-in microphone, or the mic that's on the cord of the standard earbuds? How close is the source of the sound to the mic? What kind of values are you seeing if you log -peakPowerForChannel? — NSResponder, Apr 14 '11 at 11:14
@NSResponder: I am using built-in microphone. Also can you explain how to log -peakPowerForChannel? — Parth Bhatt, Apr 14 '11 at 11:16

score 25 · Accepted Answer · edited Dec 22 '11 at 18:23

25

This code should be useful for you:

#import <AudioToolbox/AudioServices.h>

    UInt32 audioRouteOverride = kAudioSessionOverrideAudioRoute_Speaker;                
    AudioSessionSetProperty (kAudioSessionProperty_OverrideAudioRoute,          
                                 sizeof (audioRouteOverride),&audioRouteOverride);

It will increase volume. The functionality of the code is to convert the ordinary sound to speaker sound on ur iPhone. That's why kAudioSessionOverrideAudioRoute_Speaker is used.

edited Dec 22 '11 at 18:23

Kendall Helmstetter Gelner

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answered Apr 14 '11 at 11:24

CNSivakumar

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Thanks for the input. I will check it out and get back to you soon :) – Parth Bhatt Apr 14 '11 at 13:01
Thanks a lot this did work :) I was in search of a solution to this since a day now. – Parth Bhatt Apr 14 '11 at 13:26
3

Don't forget the import statement. Perhaps obvious for the more experienced programmers... #import – manuelBetancurt Sep 15 '11 at 05:20
I added that to the answer above, thanks for mentioning the import required. – Kendall Helmstetter Gelner Dec 22 '11 at 18:17
I got it to work (the sounds comes out of the speakers), but I'm not sure if I'm using it correctly. Is this a one-time thing at app-launch? Once at viewDidLoad for my controller? Once every time I make a new AVAudioPlayer? As KKendal asked: where does this go? Thanks! – Olie Sep 05 '13 at 01:46
Your code works just fine :) but it is now deprecated since iOS7. Please see my answer below for an updated solution. – Martin Christmann Nov 21 '13 at 09:30

score 23 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 21 '13 at 09:29

Since iOS7 you can fix this issue directly with AVAudioSession

The overrideOutputAudioPort method does the same than AudioSessionSetProperty

NSError *setOverrideError;
NSError *setCategoryError;

AVAudioSession *session = [AVAudioSession sharedInstance];
[session setCategory:AVAudioSessionCategoryPlayAndRecord error:&setCategoryError];

if(setCategoryError){
    NSLog(@"%@", [setCategoryError description]);
}

[session overrideOutputAudioPort:AVAudioSessionPortOverrideSpeaker error:&setOverrideError];


if(setOverrideError){
    NSLog(@"%@", [setOverrideError description]);
}

this line saved my life, thanks man [session overrideOutputAudioPort:AVAudioSessionPortOverrideSpeaker error:&setOverrideError]; — Fadi Abuzant, Aug 16 '17 at 08:40

M.Othman · Answer 3 · 2015-11-02T07:14:45.837

4

Swift version :

 import AVFoundation
 var overrideError : NSError?
    if AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().overrideOutputAudioPort(.Speaker, error: &error){

    }else{
        print("error in overrideOutputAudioPort " + overrideError!.localizedDescription)
    }

Swift 2:

        do {
        try AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().overrideOutputAudioPort(AVAudioSessionPortOverride.Speaker)
        } catch {
        }

edited Nov 02 '15 at 07:14

answered Mar 12 '15 at 15:55

M.Othman

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With Swift 2, this is now a do-try-catch situation, no need for overrideError optional – blwinters Nov 02 '15 at 02:00

score 1 · Answer 4 · edited Mar 12 '13 at 14:49

1

The following code fixed this issue for me:

[[AVAudioSession sharedInstance] setCategory:AVAudioSessionCategoryPlayAndRecord error: nil];
[[AVAudioSession sharedInstance] setActive: YES error: nil];
UInt32 doChangeDefault = 1;
AudioSessionSetProperty(kAudioSessionProperty_OverrideCategoryDefaultToSpeaker, sizeof(doChangeDefault), &doChangeDefault);

edited Mar 12 '13 at 14:49

Groot

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answered Jul 18 '12 at 05:50

Kemo

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score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Sep 04 '14 at 20:24

MAN, try this.

AVAudioSession *session = [AVAudioSession sharedInstance];

NSError *setCategoryError = nil;
if (![session setCategory:AVAudioSessionCategoryPlayback
              withOptions:kAudioSessionOverrideAudioRoute_Speaker
                    error:&setCategoryError]) {
        // handle error
}

NSError *error;
NSData * data = [NSData dataWithContentsOfURL:self.playlet.urlSound];

self.audioPlayer = [[AVAudioPlayer alloc] initWithData:data fileTypeHint:@"aac" error:&error];

self.audioPlayer.delegate = self;

if (error)
    NSLog(@"Error: %@",
          [error localizedDescription]);
else
    [_audioPlayer play];

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Jan 18 '15 at 06:20

0

just set this [session overrideOutputAudioPort:AVAudioSessionPortOverrideSpeaker error:&setOverrideError]; It works for me.

answered Jan 18 '15 at 06:20

Chauyan

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How to record and play sound in iPhone app?

6 Answers6

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