NEW YORK—Audience complaints have increased as TV soundtracks evolved from the intelligible speech of the analog era to the cinematic-style wide dynamic range digital multichannel productions of today. Addressing this omnipresent issue, the AES Technical Committee for Broadcast and Online Delivery has published the comprehensive Technical Document (TD1009), “Improving Dialogue Intelligibility in Media,” which diagnoses the intelligibility problem and presents solutions.

“Dialogue intelligibility affects today’s audiences,” said Jim Starzynski, NBCUniversal Director and Principal Audio Engineer and Chair of the working group. “Increased reliance on captions has become apparent and indicates a problem. This study reveals why audiences can struggle to understand their favorite shows and offers in-depth solutions.”

Sound for picture delivered through broadcast and streaming is the primary focus of TD1009. Solutions also apply to audio-only media. Important takeaways from the study include detailing the “Dialogue Intelligibility Ecosystem”—dialogue’s journey from acquisition to the ear of the consumer and the application of how humans understand and interpret dialogue. Solutions presented include fostering a culture of dialogue intelligibility in the post-production process; addressing the limitations of TV sets, set top boxes and audio/video receivers; and identifying what can go wrong in distribution.

Production insiders and subject matter experts have collaborated for over two years in the development of TD1009 to guide creative professionals, content distributors, device manufacturers and consumer enthusiasts, AES said. The guide was created under the leadership of the AES Technical Committee for Broadcast and Online Delivery (TC-BOD), an international group that addresses audio quality chaired by David Bialik, Kimio Hamasaki, Matthieu Parmentier and Jim Starzynski.

The publication of TD1009 follows its initial public presentation at the AES Show 2025 – Long Beach Convention, during the session “Improving Dialogue Intelligibility in Media: A Report from the AES Broadcast and Online Delivery Technical Committee.” “With AES TD1009 now publicly released,” notes Rafael Kassier, who co-chairs the AES Technical Council with Lesley Fogle, “we encourage broadcasters, streaming platforms, content creators and audio engineers worldwide to explore and apply its recommendations to enhance speech clarity and overall listener experience.”

This paper is distributed openly by the Audio Engineering Society and may be viewed/downloaded at https://aes.org/community/technical-council/aestd1009/. The TC-BOD can be contacted by email at broadcast@AES.org.

SAN JOSE, Calif.—DTS, Inc. a subsidiary of Xperi, has announced “DTS Clear Dialogue,” a new on-device solution that leverages the latest advancements in AI-based audio processing to improve dialogue intelligibility for TV audio.

DTS Clear Dialogue addresses one of the biggest audio complaints from consumers—not being able to clearly understand spoken onscreen dialogue. There are many reasons why consumers have difficulty understanding onscreen dialogue: device limitations, inconsistent audio across content sources, environmental noise or individual hearing abilities.

Xperi says its DTS Clear Dialogue provides consumers with the ability to personalize and optimize their audio experience, significantly improving their understanding of dialogue.

“Sound quality is an essential part of the TV and video viewing experience," says Greg Ireland, senior research director at IDC. "IDC's consumer survey results continue to show that sound quality is highly important to a strong majority of viewers. Moreover, sound quality applies to older and young consumers, signaling that solutions that enable improved audio experiences address a highly important facet of the viewing experience for consumers across all generations.”

A recent Xperi survey of 1,200 U.S. adults revealed that 84% of consumers have experienced trouble understanding dialogue during TV shows and movies. In response, over three-quarters (77%) of survey respondents said they use captions/subtitles, with one in three (30%) reporting they are always or often turned on.

“When viewers can’t hear the dialogue, it degrades the quality of their TV experience and turning on subtitles is a workaround, not a solution,” says Geir Skaaden, chief products & services officer at Xperi. “To date, attempts to mitigate audio post-processing limitations don’t address the complex underlying problems across languages, content and environment, and can’t account for each viewer’s individuality. Our device-side AI-based audio processing solution will allow TV OEMs to provide their viewers with the ability to customize and personalize their audio experience.”

DTS Clear Dialogue leverages AI audio processing innovation and machine learning techniques to identify, separate and enhance dialogue so listeners can better understand it. Clear Dialogue is language-inclusive and agnostic to content type (movies, TV shows, sports, live events, etc.).

Xperi says that according to its own survey, 79% of U.S. consumers said that DTS Clear Dialogue would increase their interest in a smart TV that offered it. Top use cases include when: actors do not speak clearly (40%), non-dialogue audio elements are too loud (38%), viewers want to watch at a lower overall volume to avoid disturbing others (35%) and the TV-watching environment is too noisy (34%).

Xperi says DTS Clear Dialogue for TV OEMs can identify and separate virtually any element within an audio program to optimize its performance, distinguishing between elements such as dialogue, music and special effects. Users can also create personalized profiles with dialogue and non-dialogue settings, to address hearing impairment, listening environments and audio preferences for varying conditions.

“This new level of AI-powered personalization addresses listener needs and can compensate for individual hearing impairment, device limitations and listening environments for the first time,” continues Skaaden. “Providing this deeper level of understanding and enjoyment of TV content benefits everyone, from the viewers themselves to advertisers, streaming services, movie and TV studios and TV OEMs.

Xperi will demo DTS Clear Dialogue at stand in Hall 22-306, during IFA in Berlin, Sept. 6-10.

SAN DIEGO—Following the announcement of a successful test of an ATSC 3.0 standard component on Wednesday, another element of Next Gen TV has received a passing grade during a separate experiment. Verance Corporation and Dolby revealed they conducted a test in February with San Diego station KPBS on internet-delivered dialogue enhancement, a Next Gen TV personalized audio experience.

Using the Verance Aspect watermark and Dolby AC-4, the test demonstrated that the dialogue enhancement feature of the AC-4 can be delivered as a standalone audio stream over the internet and paired with video delivered through a live linear broadcast. The companies reported that the pairing was made with precise broadband audio and broadcast video synchronization, and delivered over all MVPD paths, including cable and satellite.

After delivering dialogue enhancement over a live linear 1.0 broadcast environment, Verance and Dolby are said to be planning to replicate the test with an ATSC 3.0 broadcaster.

Aspect is designed to ensure Next Gen capabilities like personalization, interactivity and census-like audience measurement can reach 100% of ATSC 1/0/3.0-connected TVs, regardless of whether they receive content over-the-air, via MVPD or OTT. The Dolby AC-4 encoder, meanwhile, is meant to be able to power multiple personalized audio experiences.

“Together with Verance and KPBS, we have proven the value and impact Dolby AC-4 can play in hybrid broadcasts and demonstrated the growing importance of next-generation features like better audibility, also known as dialogue enhancement,” said Mathias Bendull, vice president, multi-screen services audio, Dolby Laboratories. “Not just a feature for the hearing impaired, dialogue enhancement also enables all viewers to have a better experience when dialogue is harder to hear, like a noisy room.”

KPBS Operations & Technology Division Associate General Manager Bruce Rogow says that viewers have sent complaints about background music and other sounds drowning out voices in shows, and believes the technology tested by Verance and Dolby could be a “game changer.”

Joe Winograd, CTO of Verance, said: “Broadcasters investing in the development of Next Gen TV applications can now proceed with confidence, knowing that these applications are capable of reaching 100% of U.S. households, including 80% of viewers currently using MVPD services.”

For a comprehensive source of TV Technology’s ATSC 3.0 coverage, see ourATSC3 silo.