Metadata-Based Dialog Enhancement for Clearer Audio Playback

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing audio playback systems struggle to enhance the intelligibility of spoken dialog in audio content, often making it difficult for listeners to hear and understand dialog in video and audio content due to conflicting sound levels, particularly in home theater settings.

Innovation Solution

Implementing dialog enhancement procedures based on metadata associated with audio content, where playback devices or computing systems determine portions with dialog and apply specific audio enhancement parameters such as equalization settings and surround sound adjustments to improve dialog clarity without affecting other parts of the audio content.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Measurement precision

If dialog enhancement is applied to entire audio content, then dialog intelligibility is improved, but other audio elements (music, sound effects) are degraded

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedialog intelligibilityVSAvoiddegradation of other audio elements

Core Design Contradiction:

Measurement precisionVSObject-generated harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments the audio content into multiple portions based on metadata indicators, applying dialog enhancement only to portions containing dialog while leaving other portions (music, sound effects) unaffected. This selective application resolves the contradiction by targeting enhancement only where needed rather than uniformly across all audio content.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The patent applies different audio processing qualities to different portions of the audio content based on its characteristics. Dialog portions receive enhanced processing with adjusted equalization and compression parameters, while non-dialog portions maintain their original quality, thus improving dialog intelligibility without degrading other audio elements.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

2Measurement precision

If equalization parameters are adjusted to enhance dialog frequencies, then dialog clarity is improved, but overall audio fidelity is compromised

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedialog clarityVSAvoidaudio fidelity

Core Design Contradiction:

Measurement precisionVSManufacturing precision

Solution Approach 1:

The patent divides the audio content into dialog portions and non-dialog portions using metadata indicators. Equalization parameter adjustments are applied only to dialog portions, allowing enhanced dialog clarity through frequency-specific processing while preserving the original audio fidelity of non-dialog portions.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

Different equalization parameters are applied locally to dialog portions versus non-dialog portions. Dialog portions receive optimized equalization for speech frequencies, while non-dialog portions maintain their original frequency response, thus achieving dialog clarity improvement without compromising overall audio fidelity.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

3Measurement precision

If audio compression is increased to improve dialog intelligibility, then dialog understanding is enhanced, but audio quality and dynamics are reduced

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedialog understandingVSAvoidaudio quality

Core Design Contradiction:

Measurement precisionVSManufacturing precision

Solution Approach 1:

The patent identifies dialog portions through metadata indicators and applies compression enhancement only to these segments. This selective compression improves dialog understanding in spoken portions while maintaining the original audio quality and dynamics in non-dialog portions such as music and sound effects.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

Different compression parameters are applied to dialog portions versus non-dialog portions. Dialog portions receive optimized compression settings that enhance intelligibility, while non-dialog portions maintain their original quality characteristics, thus achieving dialog understanding improvement without reducing overall audio quality.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

4Adaptability or versatility

If metadata is used to identify dialog portions, then selective enhancement is enabled, but system complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveselective enhancement capabilityVSAvoidsystem complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent utilizes pre-generated metadata indicators that are created beforehand during audio encoding or preprocessing. These indicators mark dialog portions within the audio content, allowing the playback system to selectively apply enhancement without requiring complex real-time analysis, thus enabling selective enhancement while minimizing system complexity.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Data Source

PatentUS20230195783A1Speech Enhancement Based on Metadata Associated with Audio Content

Publication Date: 2023.06.22 SONOS INC

AI summary

Systems and methods disclosed herein include computing devices and/or computing systems configured to (i) determine portions of audio content comprising speech dialog based at least in part on metadata associated with the audio content, (ii) for individual portions of the audio content containing speech dialog, identify dialog enhancement parameters for application the portions of audio content containing speech dialog, and (iii) playing (or causing to be played) the audio content, where playing the audio content includes applying the dialog enhancement parameters to the portions of audio content containing speech dialog.