Xperi’s DTS brand has so far made a name for itself mainly through the eponymous (home) cinema sound and multiroom system “DTS Play-Fi”. Now the manufacturer wants to significantly improve dialogue intelligibility in upcoming televisions under the name “DTS Clear Dialogue”. Xperi is presenting a pre-production version of the system at this year’s IFA, but only behind a closed bag.
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Two scenes were shown: an excerpt from the movie “The Martian – Save Mark Watney” and a recording of a TV broadcast of the Tour de France. In “The Martian”, the challenge for the algorithm was to filter out the actors’ dialogue in a scene where there was extremely loud background noise due to a sandstorm. The aim of the sports broadcast was to isolate the voices of the commentators, while leaving the cheering of the spectators on the side of the track in the background.
In both cases it worked perfectly. Dialogues were very easy to understand – and the volume could be adjusted individually using the remote control. Voices did not sound hollow, as is the case with some previous dialogue correctors. AI algorithms are used for this; Xperi itself speaks of machine learning. Such a result would not be possible using conventional means alone, such as boosting certain frequencies.
When asked, the presenter also pointed out that DTS Clear Dialogue does not interfere with dynamics or change the intent of a scene, like increasing all dialogue to the same volume. So a whisper will remain a whisper, just as a scream will remain a scream. According to the company, it does not matter what language is spoken and whether the source is a TV broadcast, streaming or Blu-ray disc.
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According to Xperi, he is currently in discussions with several processor and TV manufacturers to bring the technology to televisions as soon as possible. However, the company cannot yet provide specific names or exact time frames; according to Xperi, in the best case scenario, the first TV models could be equipped with DTS Clear Dialogue as early as next year.
Xperi is initially targeting televisions. If there is success in this area, it can be imagined that sound bars and audio/video receivers will also be equipped with this system.
In itself, the problem of poor dialogue intelligibility may long be a thing of the past. Dolby AC-4 and MPEG-H audio have been available for the broadcast sector for several years, allowing dialogues on TV to be saved separately, transmitted and then regulated separately from the rest. I had already published the article “New sounds on TV – audio codecs for the television of the future” in 2016.
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