Hello everyone, I have just joined and I hope this is the right forum.  I am 62 and always wanted to fly a plane, the reality has passed me by but I thought that a Flight Sim was the next best thing!  I am very hard of hearing however and need to use headphones to listen to music, tv, radio etc and I manage fine.  However when I started to take the lessons in FS2002, using my headphones (good quality - they have to be) I found that I just could not understand the instructors voice.  Now I understand it is made deliberately to sound like a radio transmission to add to the realism and while this is good for most people I expect, unfortunately it isn't for me.  I have spent hours searching the internet to see if this had been an issue and maybe therefore there was a solution but I have found nothingat all.  So my question for you experts is are there any replacement sound files recorded "in clear voice" or is there any way in which I can modify the sound files myself to improve the clarity which would involve removing the "radio effect"
I really hope someone can help as it is going to be very difficult to master flying without being able to use the lessons alongside the ground school.  Many thanks for reading this.

Hi jerry and thanks for the quick response.  if what you have found with FS2004 is correct I don't mind following that path at all and am grateful for you taking the trouble to go back and check FS2002.  I only use 2002 because that was what my son bought me as a birthday present!  For some reason he couldn't get 2004 at the time and was told that FSX would not run well on my machine. (the performance of 2002 by the way is fine).  What surprises me Jerry, particularly as you have now confirmed that you have a similar problem with it, is that it doesn't appear ever to have been raised as an issue - you and I can't be the only two Flight Sim users who are hard of hearing! I searched pretty exhaustively and came up with nothing. I will do as you suggest and hang on for a little while to see if anyone comes up with anything and in the meantime will try and find a store that wil let me try a demo of 2004.
Thanks again.
Peter

Prague... ...!

The good news, is that FS 2004 can be obtained at most Computer Game shops at a budget price......and well worth purchasing!......!

Paul...G-BPLF...FS 2004...

JerryH wrote on Jan 31^st, 2009 at 2:45pm:


hello again, I think I may have found a piece of software that will help you, me and others with not so good ears - FSFlyingSchool Flight Sim for Microsoft Flight Simulator X FSX and FS2004  this is made by a company called FSInventions, http://www.fsflyingschool.com/ which gives you a talking co pilot/instructor sitting next to you.  From looking at the demo on the site the voices are very clear indeed, even for me.  It gets very good feedback and maybe you would like to have a look in case it is useful for you.
Peter

Hello again Jerry,  Just a report back re poor instructor sound files in 2002.  You were absolutely right; I decided to get FS2004 and the difference in the quality of the instructor sound files is amazing and I have no problem whatsoever understanding them through my earphones.  I can in fact also make them out through my speakers but the volume is a bit much when there is anybody else in the house!  What is a bit puzzling is that the content of the 2004 files seems to be exactly the same (as far as I have got in the lessons anyway) which suggests that Microsoft possibly degraded the files in 2002 to give the radio/reality sound, unless they re-recorded them with the same script.  As I mentioned I have also tried FS Flying school and this is also very clear to listen to.  Taken together these 2 things mean that for the first time I can actually enjoy this game, so thank you very much.
Peter

Amazon USA currently  has FS2004 for about $15.