NUGEN Audio has launched a mono, stereo and multichannel dialog clarity meter that provides an objective measure of speech audio intelligibility.
DialogCheck is ideally suited for use in film, television, radio, podcasting and game audio production, as well as post-production environments.
“Poor speech clarity is commonly cited as a major source of television audience complaints, making dialog intelligibility increasingly important for audio professionals,” says Dr. Paul Tapper, CEO, NUGEN Audio.
“As engineers are likely to listen in an acoustically specialized environment compared to where the final mix might be played, it can be difficult for them to judge whether further changes are needed to improve clarity. NUGEN Audio DialogCheck provides an objective measure of speech in a portion of the audio file or through an entire project.”
The ability for a listener to understand a piece of dialog is affected by many factors. This includes language, dialect, enunciation, reverb and effects, loudness of speech and background noise, as well as listener hearing ability, listening environment, placement of speakers and supporting visuals, among other elements. DialogCheck enables users to easily evaluate their audio to identify sections of speech that might be difficult for listeners to understand.
DialogCheck features more than one-dozen interface tools aimed at supporting engineers in their dialog editing process, such as the integrated real-time bar meter and history graph. Additionally, the distribution view and numerical statistical values provide an overview of the speech intelligibility of the entire program. This information can then be used to guide engineers to correct issues before testing again.
Furthermore, the tracking function syncs the views with the audio playback in the DAW, while ‘Macro View’ highlights the current audio section within the wider historical view.
“Dialog intelligibility is where the drama either unfolds or falls flat on its face,” says Dubbing Mixer and Sound Designer, Mike Aiton (BBC One ‘Panorama,’ The History Channel and ‘Robot Wars’). “With metering savants NUGEN Audio, you can ensure that your dialog is actually heard and not just seen.”
DialogCheck also has its benefits for pre-production to assess different mic’ing configurations, performance styles, room set-ups, etc., to ensure that raw production audio is already near to the desirable clarity levels.
The Netflix Team says: “Understanding dialogue intelligibility across Netflix titles is invaluable, but our mission goes beyond analysis—we strive to empower creators with the tools to craft mixes that resonate seamlessly with audiences at home.”
DialogCheck utilizes the Listening Effort Meter (LE-Meter) developed by Fraunhofer IDMT, which allows sound engineers to visualize listening effort during mixing and conduct post-mixing checks to optimize audio quality. Designed to objectively assess the listening effort of dialog in broadcast material, LE-Meter utilizes automatic speech recognition and psychoacoustic modeling with metrics to evaluate the intelligibility of dialog.
“Our LE-Meter enables the objective measurement and display of speech intelligibility and listening effort,” says Prof. Dr. Jan Rennies-Hochmuth, Group Leader for Personal Hearing Systems at the Branch for Hearing, Speech and Audio Technology at Fraunhofer IDMT. “Thanks to validations and optimizations using formal listening tests, this provides media producers with a precise tool for analyzing and implementing audio content. For example, difficult sections can be identified automatically for improvement with respect to listening enjoyment and accessibility.”
Like all NUGEN Audio solutions, the new software also comes with a variety of factory settings and presets. Personal presets can be created and saved to later be selected in the featured “Preset Bar.”
While DialogCheck is designed for use in traditional post-production, any audio that includes speech/dialog can benefit from integrating the software.
DialogCheck for Windows and Mac (VST3, AU and AAX) is available to purchase for 339 EUR (ex. VAT) / $399 USD from NUGEN Audio and at Plugin Boutique.
