Sound and volume

Where the sound comes from

occo has its own volume, and then plays through whatever your computer or tablet is using for audio. So there are two questions: how loud occo is set, and which speakers the device is sending sound to. If the sound is coming out of the wrong thing, it is the second one — the device’s output setting, not occo.

occo’s volume is the speaker button at the top right of the home screen, and at the top of the screen during an activity. Click it to mute or unmute. To set the level, point at it (or press and hold it on a touch screen) and drag the slider that appears. The M key mutes and unmutes too.

The level is kept by the browser on that screen, and it is the same for every profile. Turn it down on the tablet and it stays down on the tablet, whoever is playing, while the TV computer keeps its own.

When you connect a computer to a TV over HDMI, the audio normally travels down the same cable and comes out of the TV. Normally. When it does not, here is how to point it there.

• On a Mac: System Settings → Sound → Output, and choose the TV. You can also hold Option and click the volume icon in the menu bar for a quick switch.
• On Windows: click the volume icon in the taskbar, use the output picker, and choose the TV. Or go to Settings → System → Sound.
• On an iPad: open Control Center and use the AirPlay / output control.

No sound at all

Five volume controls sit between the scene and the room. Check them in this order.

1. occo’s own volume. A speaker with a line through it means occo is muted. The browser remembers that, so a muted screen stays muted after a reload — and a stray press of M is enough to do it. Click the speaker, or drag its slider up.
2. The tab. Chrome can mute a single tab. If the tab has a muted-speaker icon, right-click the tab and choose Unmute site.
3. The computer. System volume up, and not muted.
4. The output device. The one that catches most people — the computer is playing perfectly, into its own speakers, while you stare at the TV. See above.
5. The TV or speakers. TV volume up, TV not muted, and the TV on the right input. If the TV is set to send audio to a soundbar or receiver, that has its own volume too.

Sound is there, but crackly, delayed, or out of sync

• Bluetooth speakers and headphones add delay. For anything where a sound should land at the same moment as a movement, a wired connection or the TV’s own speakers will feel better.
• Reseat the HDMI cable if audio drops in and out — the same cable carries both picture and sound.
• Check the machine is not overloaded. Stuttering audio often arrives alongside a stuttering picture, and both are fixed the same way: close other apps and tabs. See what makes it run well.

When sound is the problem, not the point

For a lot of children, audio is the thing that tips an activity from calming to too much. You have more options than all-or-nothing:

• Turn the sound down rather than off. Drag occo’s slider down to a level your child is comfortable with. It stays there on that screen until someone changes it.
• Quiet just the buddy. If it is the buddy’s voice rather than the scene that is too much, set the buddy to See: it stays on screen with its speech bubbles, and the music and sounds carry on. Off leaves the buddy out altogether. The buddy mode belongs to your child’s profile, so a brother or sister keeps theirs. See your buddy.
• Turn off the spoken cues in Breathe and relax. Its Voice cues setting, under the sliders button at the top of the screen, lets your child follow the breathing without being talked through it. See choosing activities.
• Start quiet and come up. It is easier to add sound to a session that is going well than to rescue one that started too loud.
• Silent is a legitimate setting. Mute occo or the TV entirely and a scene still fills the wall and still answers movement.
• Try a calmer scene before blaming the volume. The Heart row on the home screen is full of slow, quiet activities — Breathe and relax, Lava lamp, Catch fireflies. Choosing activities has more.