Xperi Inc.-owned DTS has brought to market a new on-device tool that taps into the latest advancements in AI-based audio processing to improve dialogue intelligibility for television audio.
The product, DTS Clear Dialogue, was created to address a big complaint from TV viewers — 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,” DTS says, explaining that their product offers consumers the ability to personalize and optimize their audio experience.
“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, 77% of survey respondents said they use captions/subtitles, with 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 and 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.”
Clear Dialogue is language-inclusive and agnostic to content type.
Great idea! The first positive use I’ve heard for AI. Hopefully this will also be released as an outboard box that can be added to existing sets. We’d hate to have to replace our TVs (again).