Dialogue Enhancement in Object-based Audio -- Evaluating the Benefit on People above 65

TL;DR

This study evaluates how object-based audio dialogue enhancement improves speech clarity for elderly viewers, showing that customizable DE increases satisfaction and both tested methods are effective.

Contribution

It provides empirical evidence that user-adjustable dialogue enhancement benefits elderly listeners and compares two DE methods using objective and subjective measures.

Findings

Preferred loudness differences were larger than original levels.

Customizable DE increased listener satisfaction.

Both DE methods performed similarly in effectiveness.

Abstract

Due to age-related hearing loss, elderly people often struggle with following the language on TV. Because they form an increasing part of the audience, this problem will become even more important in the future and needs to be addressed by research and development. Object-based audio is a promising approach to solve this issue as it offers the possibility of customizable dialogue enhancement (DE). For this thesis an Adjustment / Satisfaction Test (A/ST) was conducted to evaluate the preferred loudness difference (LD) between speech and background in people above 65. Two different types of DE were tested: DE with separately available audio components (speech and background) and DE with components created by blind source separation (BSS). The preferred LDs compared to the original, differences of the preferred LDs between the two DE methods and the listener satisfaction were tested. It was observed that the preferred LDs were larger than the original LDs, that customizable DE increases listener satisfaction and that the two DE methods performed comparably well in terms of preferred LD and listener satisfaction. Based on the results, it can be assumed that elderly viewers above 65 will benefit equally from user-adjustable DE by available components and by dialogue separation.