My hearing is poor (hearing impairment both ears), but I never had a problem with being able to hear my Blackberry 8530. I have adjusted all of my settings. What's odd is that the volume when listening to music via headphones is just fine (wife says it's too loud), but both she and I agree that something is wrong with the speaker. I wonder if a a customized rom would even be able to fix something like this. Stuff like this should not be happening with a $299 phone.