A television audio device has a multiple channel television audio system having provisions for providing multiple channel audio to a speaker system and multiple channel audio for receipt by a multiple channel headphone system. A switch is configured to detect operation of the multiple channel headphone system. A processor is selectively programmable to configure the multiple channel television audio system to provide a monaural audio signal to all channels of the multiple channel headphone system when the multiple channel headphone system is detected to be in operation. This abstract is not to be considered limiting, since other embodiments may deviate from the features described in this abstract.