While the show is playing, press Star (*) on your Roku remote, open Max’s Audio and Subtitles menu, and choose the regular language track—usually English—instead of English – Audio Description. If the voice reads Roku menus rather than describing the show, turn off Roku’s Screen reader instead.
Turn off audio description in the Max player
Audio description is an alternate audio track that narrates visual details such as movements, expressions, and scene changes. It is separate from dialogue, subtitles, and captions. These steps apply to the Max app on Roku, whether you searched for it as Max or HBO Max.
- Open Max on Roku and play the affected movie or episode.
- Press Star (*) on the Roku remote. If an Accessibility and Captions menu appears, open it.
- Select the Audio and Subtitles control, often shown as a speech-bubble icon in the player controls.
- Under Audio, choose English or another available language track that does not say Audio Description. Do not choose English – Audio Description.
- Close the menu with X or press Back, then resume playback.
Max’s instructions say to select another language in the Audio section to stop audio description; subtitles are a separate setting. The selected track may become the default for other eligible titles, but Max does not promise one universal account-wide off switch. Track availability and behavior can vary by title and profile. Max explains how to change audio tracks, and its accessibility instructions for Roku describe the Star-button route.
If the voice reads Roku menus, turn off Screen reader
If Roku tiles, buttons, settings, or other interface items are spoken aloud—even outside Max—the voice is likely Roku’s Screen reader, formerly called Audio Guide, rather than the show’s audio-description track.
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- Shortcut: Press Star (*) four times quickly, if the shortcut is enabled and supported on your device.
- Settings: Go to Settings > Accessibility > Screen reader and turn it off. Wording can vary by Roku model or software version.
See Roku’s Screen reader instructions for the shortcut and settings path.
If you mean text on screen, change subtitles or captions
If the issue is visible text rather than spoken narration, open Max’s Audio and Subtitles menu and choose Off under Subtitles. That does not turn off audio description; the Audio and Subtitles controls handle different things.
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For Roku-level closed-caption settings, go to Home > Settings > Accessibility > Captions mode. If Accessibility is not listed, menu names may differ on your device. Some apps use their own caption controls, so check Max as well as Roku settings. Roku describes the device caption options here and explains that streaming apps can have separate feature settings.
If narration continues after changing the track
- Stop and restart the episode, then reopen Audio and Subtitles > Audio and confirm the selected track does not include Audio Description.
- Play another Max title. If the narration occurs on just one movie or episode, the audio-track selection or a title-specific issue may be involved. Max identifies titles with audio description using an Audio Description indicator on the details page; availability varies by title and may be limited to English. See Max’s accessibility feature details.
- Check that you are using the intended Max profile. Roku notes that some app settings can be retained by profile.
- Update Max: on the Roku Home screen, highlight Max, press Star (*), and choose the update option if one is offered.
- Update Roku at Home > Settings > System > System update > Check now.
- If the issue remains, sign out of Max and restart Roku. On a streaming player, use Settings > System > System restart; on a Roku TV, use Settings > System > Power > System restart.
- As a last resort, remove and reinstall Max. Roku-billed active subscriptions may prevent removing the app. Max lists these update and recovery steps in its Roku troubleshooting guide.
Why the Roku menu may look different
Roku TV and streaming-player menus, Max app controls, and labels can vary by model, Roku OS version, app version, and region. During playback, the stable target is Max’s Audio and Subtitles control and its Audio list. If Star does not show the needed control, use the on-screen player controls and select the speech-bubble Audio and Subtitles icon; Max also documents its playback controls.
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If the Audio list shows only an audio-description track, there may be no other audio track in that language for the title. Check whether another language is available, or test a different title. Do not change Roku’s digital output format or surround-sound settings to address narration: those concern audio output, not which Max content track is selected.
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