Android: how to play music at maximum possible volume?

Question

I know the question can be regarded as "politically incorrect", but I'm designing an app which "by design" must get the attention of people within the maximum possible distance range, otherwise it will not be used... :-)

I'm currently using SoundManager class, and this is the code which plays my ogg clip:

public void playSound(int index) { 
     int streamVolume = mAudioManager.getStreamVolume(AudioManager.STREAM_MUSIC); 
     mSoundPool.play(mSoundPoolMap.get(index), streamVolume, streamVolume, 0, 0, 1.0f); 
}

The problem is that the sound volume I get the clip played with appears to be dependent by "Settings/Audio/Voulme" settings the user has set. Instead it appears to be indipendent by the hardware volume buttons setting.

Is there a way for an Android app to play a sound to the maximum physical volume allowed by the device?

Answer 1

I'd suggest using getStreamMaxVolume and setStreamVolume to do this:

int origionalVolume = mAudioManager.getStreamVolume(AudioManager.STREAM_MUSIC);
mAudioManager.setStreamVolume(AudioManager.STREAM_MUSIC, mAudioManager.getStreamMaxVolume(AudioManager.STREAM_MUSIC), 0);

Then once you're done just set it back to the original volume.

I think I was beaten to the punch, ahh well :)

Some code that actually does this, I'm using the MediaPlayer rather than the soundpool as this gives you a play complete callback which doesn't appear to be present on the soundpool:

final AudioManager mAudioManager = (AudioManager) getSystemService(AUDIO_SERVICE);
final int originalVolume = mAudioManager.getStreamVolume(AudioManager.STREAM_MUSIC);
mAudioManager.setStreamVolume(AudioManager.STREAM_MUSIC, mAudioManager.getStreamMaxVolume(AudioManager.STREAM_MUSIC), 0);
MediaPlayer mp = new MediaPlayer();
mp.setAudioStreamType(AudioManager.STREAM_MUSIC);
mp.setDataSource("content://media/internal/audio/media/97");
mp.prepare();
mp.start();
mp.setOnCompletionListener(new OnCompletionListener()
{
   @Override
   public void onCompletion(MediaPlayer mp)
   {
      mAudioManager.setStreamVolume(AudioManager.STREAM_MUSIC, originalVolume, 0);
   }
});

Btw the with call mSoundPool.play(mSoundPoolMap.get(index), streamVolume, streamVolume, 0, 0, 1.0f); the streamVolume values are actually floats 0 -> 1 that represent a percentage of the maximum value so you'd really just want to put in 1.0f there.