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.
The Audio Engineering Society (AES) Technical Committee for Broadcast and Online Delivery hasn’t been shy to address this issue. Now, it has published a comprehensive Technical Document which diagnoses the intelligibility problem and presents solutions.
“Improving Dialogue Intelligibility in Media” is now available and can be viewed here.
“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. 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 Starzynski, David Bialik, Kimio Hamasaki, and Matthieu Parmentier.
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.”
