Re-Thinking Dialogue Intelligibility: Why High SNR Still Fails Viewers

Dialogue intelligibility remains the top complaint in broadcast audio — and it’s getting worse. A recent Xperi survey reports that 84% of consumers have difficulty understanding dialogue in TV shows and films. Surprisingly, this issue extends well beyond those with hearing impairments and is affecting general audiences at scale.

So what's going wrong?

This talk dives into the disconnect between traditional intelligibility metrics and actual viewer comprehension. Despite high speech-to-background ratios and near-perfect word recognition scores, comprehension often breaks down — pointing to the limitations of current assessment models.

Researchers at the University of Salford’s Acoustics Research Centre, funded by Xperi, are investigating this phenomenon using biometric and comprehension-based testing. The goal? To develop next-generation metrics that go beyond SNR and word recognition to capture the real-world effectiveness of dialogue enhancement in broadcast contexts.

We’ll discuss:
·       Why intelligibility ≠ comprehension in today’s media environments

·       The shortcomings of traditional intelligibility measures

·       How biometric and cognitive data are informing new approaches

·       Implications for designing and evaluating speech enhancement algorithms

If you're working on audio post, codec design, loudness standards, or broadcast tech, this session will give you fresh insights — and a new perspective — for solving one of the industry’s most persistent problems.

Speakers

Will Curry
Accessible Audio Researcher, PhD Student, University of Salford

Will Curry is a PhD student studying Acoustics and Audio Engineering at the Acoustics Research Centre at the University of Salford. He received his MSc in Audio Production from the University of Salford in 2023 before starting his PhD in January 2024 focusing on intelligibility, comprehension and experience in AV media. His research is investigating changing approaches to audio accessibility and how we can best apply new technologies to improve viewer experiences.

Dr Ben Shirley
Associate Professor in Audio Technology, University of Salford

Dr Ben Shirley is Associate Professor in Audio Technology at the Acoustics Research Centre, University of Salford, UK. He received his PhD from the University of Salford in 2013 on methods for improving TV sound for people with hearing impairments. His research activity at Salford includes personalisable broadcast audio and audio related accessibility solutions. He is also Co-founder and Director of Salsa Sound, automation solutions for live broadcast audio.

Ted Laverty
Vice President, Global Standards at Xperi Corporation

Ted Laverty has been serving as Vice President of Global Standards at Xperi since 2020. In this pivotal role, he spearheads Xperi's engagement in the development and implementation of technology standards across the broadcast, automotive, and consumer electronics sectors.