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“Speech Intelligibility Meter” integrated into international broadcast production solution
In film, television, streaming, or live productions, ensuring good speech intelligibility is one of the biggest challenges for professional sound engineers. Algorithms developed by Fraunhofer IDMT in Oldenburg provide recommendations for action based on an objective analysis of listening effort in real time. With many years of close collaboration and research cooperation, RTW has now integrated these technologies into its hardware-based audio measurement platform.
Oldenburg, October 22, 2025. Unclear dialogue in a television series, too loud background music in reality TV, or a sports interview overlaid with cheering from the audience can impair the media experience for viewers. Technical measuring devices are used during media production to check levels and volume. An objective measurement of speech intelligibility has yet to be established. It would facilitate work processes, as sound engineers listen to audio mixes so often that habituation effects can easily lead to misjudgments of intelligibility.
In recent years, the Fraunhofer IDMT´s Oldenburg Branch for Hearing, Speech and Audio Technology HSA has developed technologies to evaluate speech intelligibility objectively.
“Speech Intelligibility Meter” for professional hardware
In September, RTW presented the “Speech Intelligibility Meter” at the International Broadcast Convention (IBC) in Amsterdam and its integration into the hardware-based TMxCore measuring device as optional software. Production professionals in the fields of radio, television, and streaming should be able to use this tool to ensure that dialogues are evaluated objectively and are consistently clearly understandable to the audience. “Our vision for the future is to work with other industry players, such as Fraunhofer IDMT, to formulate international recommendations for measuring and maintaining speech intelligibility in media productions. The 'Speech Intelligibility Meter' can serve as a starting point for these efforts,” says Thomas Valter, Director of Product Management & Marketing at RTW.
Cooperation as the foundation for particularly robust technologies
The trusting cooperation between Fraunhofer IDMT and RTW began nine years ago. In the “SI4B” (Speech Intelligibility for Broadcasting)1 and “SITA” (Speech Intelligibility Transformation & Autocorrection)2 projects, the joint goal was to make speech more intelligible in the broadcast sector. The partners focused on the development and evaluation of algorithms for the automatic assessment and correction of speech intelligibility.
“Through our collaboration on research projects, we gained deep insights into media production in the broadcast sector at an early stage. This has enabled us to work on technologies in recent years that not only take the needs of viewers into account, but also address the specific challenges faced by sound engineers,” explains Prof. Dr. Jan Rennies-Hochmuth, Head of Personalized Hearing Systems at Fraunhofer IDMT.
AI measures listening effort in real time
As part of the development, the researchers collaborated with industry experts. The speech intelligibility measurement has already been integrated into Steinberg Media Technologies’ post-production software Nuendo and realized as a plug-in by NUGEN Audio. Technically, the measurement is based on a combination of automatic speech recognition and psychoacoustic modeling and has undergone numerous evaluation tests in recent years. Beyond simple speech intelligibility measurement, additional functionalities are possible, such as automatically marking critical sections in the timeline or automatically improving speech intelligibility.
1 The “SI4B” (Speech Intelligibility for Broadcasting) project was funded by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi), now the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE).
2 The “SITA” (Speech Intelligibility Transformation & Autocorrection) project was funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), now the Fed-eral Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR).
Hearing, Speech and Audio Technology HSA at Fraunhofer IDMT in Oldenburg
Founded in 2008 by Prof. Dr. Dr. Birger Kollmeier and Dr. Jens-E. Appell, the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology IDMT’s Branch for Hearing, Speech and Audio Technology HSA stands for market-oriented research and development with a focus on the following areas:
• Speech and event recognition
• Sound quality and speech intelligibility
• Mobile neurotechnology and systems for networked healthcare
With in-house expertise in the development of hardware and software systems for audio system technology and signal enhancement, the employees at the Oldenburg site are responsible for transferring scientific findings into practical, customer-oriented solutions.
Through scientific cooperation, the institute is closely linked to the Carl von Ossietzky University, Jade University of Applied Sciences, and the University of Applied Sciences Emden/Leer. Fraunhofer IDMT is a partner in the “Hearing4all” cluster of excellence and in the Collaborative Research Centre “Hearing Acoustics”.
Further information on www.idmt.fraunhofer.de/hsa
Contact for the media:
Christian Colmer
Head of Marketing and Communication
Fraunhofer-Institute for Digital Media Technology IDMT
Oldenburg Branch for Hearing, Speech and Audio Technology HSA
Marie-Curie-Str. 2
26129 Oldenburg
Phone +49 441 80097-312
christian.colmer@idmt.fraunhofer.de
http://www.idmt.fraunhofer.de/hsa
http://www.idmt.fraunhofer.de/hsa
In the so-called “SI Chart” in TMxCore from RTW, red markings indicate critical points with regard t ...
Source: RTW
Copyright: RTW
The “Speech Intelligibility Meter”, featuring algorithms developed by Fraunhofer IDMT in Oldenburg, ...
Source: RTW
Copyright: RTW
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