[Talkback] Volume Up/Down OnKeyDown does not fire

[GoogleCodeExporter]

What steps will reproduce the problem?
1. Enable talkback
2. Download any app that would override or use the Volume Up/Down keys
3. Talkback consumes these key events and does not allow any other app to 
override them.

What is the expected output? What do you see instead?
These key events should be passed on to any app that wants to handle them.

What version of the product are you using? On what operating system?
Latest Talkback 3.4.0 on the Play market

Please provide any additional information below.
Android 4.3 on Nexus 7 tablet. Supposedly is the same on Nexus 4 with Android 
4.3

If talkback is disabled, overriding keys works as expected.

Original issue reported on code.google.com by b...@2ndsight.si on 12 Aug 2013 at 10:25

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Volume keys are currently filtered by TalkBack on 4.3+ for better handling of 
volume stream switching.  Will consider an alternative approach or a user 
preference in a future release.

Original comment by caseybur...@google.com on 5 Dec 2013 at 7:53

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I just ran into the same issue. My app for the blind uses 
KeyEvent.KEYCODE_VOLUME_DOWN and KeyEvent.KEYCODE_VOLUME_UP events to control 
the  sound volume of generated audio in pre-specified increments. This works 
fine unless TalkBack is running (I'm testing with an HTC One M8 running Android 
4.4.2). How can I now catch these basic volume key events? Can I override some 
function? 

I could a few times per second poll AudioManager.getStreamVolume() to detect 
up/down changes in the current audio volume, and then apply 
AudioManager.setStreamVolume() to apply the intended pre-specified volume 
increments of my app, but this is an excruciatingly ugly stopgap for a bad 
accessibility design choice. Please let me know of a better way to deal with 
this unwanted TalkBack side-effect?

Thanks!

Original comment by seeingwi...@gmail.com on 3 May 2014 at 7:24

[GoogleCodeExporter]

To add to the mess, my app also uses the KeyEvent.KEYCODE_VOLUME_DOWN and 
KeyEvent.KEYCODE_VOLUME_UP events in keyboard navigation while not in its main 
screen, and that too now fails due to TalkBack consuming these events. Please 
advise.

Original comment by seeingwi...@gmail.com on 3 May 2014 at 7:29

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Volume button events still not being delivered to apps on latest Android 5.0.1 
Lollipop on Nexus 4 (tested just now) if TalkBack is on.

Original comment by stereoma...@yahoo.com on 20 Jan 2015 at 4:21

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Issue is still observed in Android version 5.1 with Talkback version 4.2.0.
Device: Nexus 6

Original comment by smcs...@gmail.com on 17 Aug 2015 at 12:03