How to Turn Off Talkback on Sony TV (Android TV)

Operating systems for computers, smartphones, smart TVs, or even smartwatches offer accessibility settings. On different TVs, Talkback is known by various names such as voice narrator, voice assistant, screen reader, audio description, etc. When enabled, the TV starts reading or describing the menu out loud. If you own a Sony Bravia TV or any Google or Android TV and want to turn off Talkback, Screen Reader, and accessibility shortcuts, follow the easy steps given in this tutorial.

Accessibility settings are meant for hearing and visually impaired people and offer enhancements like spoken feedback, high contrast fonts, screen magnifier, etc. Talkback is a kind of hearing aid for people with weak eyesight. It works like a screen reader that verbally describes the TV menu items and other information to help users navigate easily. The Talkback feature might come in handy for people with weak eyesight.

If you own a WebOS-powered LG TV, check out my detailed tutorial on turning off the audio description. Since Sony uses the Android TV OS in its smart TVs, they either have a Talkback or Screen Reader feature that works as a voice narrator or voice assistant. In this tutorial, we’ll check out the quick steps to turn off Talkback and disable the Accessibility shortcut on Sony Bravia TVs.

Sony TV Accessibility Settings

As I mentioned above, the Accessibility settings on Android TV offer a range of features to help the hearing impaired and people with bad vision.

• Talkback: It is Google’s version of a screen reader that reads text on your screen so that you can use your TV with the help of audio feedback. You can further customize Talkback via settings.
• Accessibility shortcut: It lets you turn an accessibility feature On or Off quickly by holding down the Mute button on your TV remote.
• Text Magnification: This feature allows you to see the highlighted portion of the text by magnifying it. It also lets you change the color of the text and decide how long the magnified text stays on the screen.
• Audio Description: Some TV programs provide an audio description or narration of what’s happening on the screen.
• Subtitles: Enable and customize the appearance of subtitles in supported programs on Android TV.
• Audio output to headphones: This feature lets you play TV sound on your Bluetooth headphones or an external audio device.

Turning off Talkback on Sony TV

It is easy to turn off the voice narrator, voice assistant, screen reader, or Talkback on a Sony Bravia TV. The steps described below are strictly for Sony Android TV and Google TV from Sony.

If you don’t want to use the Talkback or Screen Reader feature, check out the steps to disable it from TV settings.

1. Press the Home button on your Sony TV remote.
2. Navigate to Dashboard and select the Settings tile. On older Sony Android TVs, select Settings from the home screen.
3. On the Settings page, scroll to System and select Accessibility from the left-hand pane. If you have an older Sony TV model, you’ll find the Accessibility settings right under the Settings.
4. Scroll down to Talkback and click the selection button on your remote.
5. On the left side of the screen, you’ll see the Enable option. Highlight and select it.
6. On the next screen, select the Enable option and click it to turn off Talkback on your Sony TV.
7. Your TV will show you a confirmation screen asking if you want to Stop Talkback. Just highlight the OK option and press the Enter button on the remote.
8. That’s it! You have turned off Talkback on your Android TV.

If you still hear audio descriptions, you should head to the steps to disable Screen Reader by following the steps in the next section.

Turning Off the Screen Reader

In addition to Talkback, Android TVs also have a feature called Screen Reader. It works like a voice assistant that reads aloud the information on your TV screen loud. If turning off the Talkback could not disable the voice narration on your Sony TV, it must be because the Screen Reader is turned on. Here’s how to turn off this feature on any Android TV.

1. Press the Home button on the TV remote.
2. Navigate to Dashboard > Settings > System or Device Preferences.
3. Now, go to Accessibility and press the Center button on your TV remote.
4. Highlight the Screen Reader option and press the Center button.
5. Now select the Enable option on the right side of the TV screen.
6. On the next screen highlight the Enable option, press the Center button, and then select OK to turn off Screen Reader on your Sony TV.

Turn off Accessibility Shortcut

Like all Android TVs, your Sony TV also has an option called Accessibility Shortcut that lets you create a remote button shortcut for quick access. When the Accessibility Shortcut is enabled, you can press the Mute button on your TV remote for about 3 seconds to turn Talkback and Screen Reader On or Off. Since the Accessibility Shortcut window appears while going through the initial setup on Sony TVs, some people enable it inadvertently.

Below are the quick steps to turn off the Accessibility Shortcut on your TV via settings.

1. Press the Home button on the remote and navigate to Dashboard > Settings.
2. On the Settings screen, go to System > Accessibility > Accessibility shortcut and press the Enter button on the TV remote.
3. You can now turn off the feature by selecting the Enable accessibility shortcut option.

That’s all for now! I hope my tutorial helped you turn off Talkback, Screen Reader, and Accessibility Shortcut on your Sony Bravia TV. I’ll come with more tips and tricks soon, so stay tuned.

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