NUGEN Audio Unveils DialogCheck Speech Intelligibility Software
NUGEN Audio launches its new speech intelligibility plug-in, DialogCheck. A mono, stereo and multichannel dialog clarity meter, the software 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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