I've been asked to recommend a television soundbar, a subject I know nothing about (not even if there's a better known name for them than 'soundbar' - I mean a hardware add-on that improves the quality of the TV's audio output, and usually has it's own speakers). A friend of mine is losing her hearing, and is having difficulty hearing the speech in TV programs, so has been advised to get a TV soundbar, one that (the advice goes) can cut down on the base, and make the speech sound clearer and easier to hear. So is it possible for a soundbar (or anything else) to make the speech in a TV program or movie easier to hear/understand? If so, what features should I look for in a suitable soundbar (aside from remote control, inbuilt speakers, and compatibility with a Samsung TV, both of which will be required). She also specified wanting it to have a graphics equaliser, and be a Samsung model, since then it would definitely be compatible with the TV (we're also in England, so any you can point to for sale in England, such as Argos or Currys/PC world, would be great*). Thanks. * Online might be fine too. I didn't ask if she'd prefer to buy it local or online, but if it does a good job of making the speech easier to hear, then I might get a soundbar for me too - my hearing isn't too bad, but many films or TV programs do tend to have instances of speech that's either mumbled or coincides with background noise, so I'd also appreciate a solution to that problem.
Not quite on topic, but I'll just put that out there anyways: Headphones (decent ones) are the best for sound quality. And as a bonus, you don't annoy your neighbors, or people that might want to sit with you and just read a book or something with your movie noise. (At the same time that's also a downside, because they're "single player" only...)
