Speak up! Why some TV dialogue is so hard to understand

[Neil McCauley]

by Lauren Ward, doctoral researcher in Audio Engineering Salford University


Within 24 hours of the first episode of wartime drama SS-GB being broadcast the BBC received 100 complaints. Viewers took to Twitter to vent their frustrations with the sound. Many highlighted their annoyance that SS-GB was just the latest drama to be plagued with audibility problems. The debate has stretched to the House of Lords, with peers asking whether consultation with broadcasters is needed to address the issue. The Conversation

So is making television sound understandable as simple as asking actors to speak up? The short answer is: no. Clean recordings and well enunciated speech will always make dialogue easier to understand. However, the relationship between the audio from our television and what we understand as speech is much more complex.

Many news sources and some of the Lords blamed “modern flat televisions which place more emphasis on picture quality” than sound quality.

There is some evidence to support this idea. A recent study investigating how television sets effect speech intelligibility showed the ......

http://www.salford.ac.uk/news/articles/speak-up!-why-some-tv-dialogue-is-so-hard-to-understand?SQ_DESIGN_NAME=news-portal

[Pharos]

This is a subject which has been increasingly annoying me for 40 years, it starting with weird intonation inappropriate to the sense of meaning.

The BBC used to pride itself on speech quality, so much so that they after searching for good enough monitors for speech and not being able to find any, started their own R&D and produced what were then the best in the world.

I remember well hearing it all when I worked there in the World Service, numerous languages, all spoken very clearly and with all frequencies present, and also hearing a live performance from Indian instruments in the control room of a studio which was stunning.

But broadcasting is not really driven by creating high quality art any more, it is more McDonalds than organic haute cuisine, and the mics used have very often become lavalier electret condenser types, and you may notice that as well as being off axis, they are often pointing away from the orator's mouth, noticeable on news programmes.

According to Bill Woodman, ATC, they no longer have dedicated sound engineers to pay attention to SQ, and also the standard mics on cameras are used, producing poor results.

Music often masks speech also, its levels not being set reasonably, this apparent on BBC2 & 4 progs, and proximity effects also seem ignored.

I believe that it is worse on high quality broad band loudspeakers, and perhaps better on small set speakers with little bass.

This problem is now routine and ubiquitous, but as alluded to, the decline in enunciation in our spoken word is also major, even with academics, and mumbling seems normal now.

[walpurgis]

The encroachment of 'Americanisms' on TV pisses me off. In this country, we have aeroplanes, not 'airplanes' as seems to be creeping in. And now we have 'Monday thru Friday' instead of from Monday until Friday. And so on. It's laziness!

And never mind TV dialogue. What about the language (if you can call it that) that less educated teenagers speak. Yo, innit bruv! :rolleyes:

[Firebottle]

Don't get me started on dropped 'G's, it's a plague.

Teachers and presenters take note :steam:

Also how on earth do you get month to sound like mumf, sheer laziness?

[walpurgis]

There is definitely a tendency with some youngsters to resist being educated. Being streetwise is more important to them. Having to be at school is regarded as an imposition and something to be avoided.

This has always been the case though, hence the hoards of lawless, alcoholic, 'benefit morons' cluttering and dragging down housing estates with their dozen violent housebreaking kids and garden full of pitbulls.

They used to say 'bring back conscription'. Well that would never have been a good idea. You'd just end up with loads of fit hooligans that know how to handle themselves. Mind you, prison turns out plenty of those! :rolleyes:

[Simon_LDT]

For me, it's either poor mixing or recording. I find most shows today have dialogue low and then music and effects too loud. I get wanting to be dynamic but it's too extreme.

[RothwellAudio]

by Lauren Ward, doctoral researcher in Audio Engineering Salford University

So is making television sound understandable as simple as asking actors to speak up? The short answer is: no.
The short answer is: yes. In fact, the long answer is: yes.



... and the mics used have very often become lavalier electret condenser types, and you may notice that as well as being off axis, they are often pointing away from the orator's mouth, noticeable on news programmes.
I find that lavalier electret condensers are very good mics indeed, and good for a lot more than just speech. BTW, the vast majority of them are omnidirectional, so there's no need to have them pointing at the orator's mouth. (Ok, the omnidirectionality falls off at high frequencies, but they're still nothing like a cardioid mic.)

[karma67]

what pisses me off is the adverts are louder so you have to keep adjusting the volume

[Macca]

I think it is the crappy sound on these flat panel tvs that is the problem, not the BBC. I've had no issues since hooking up an amp and speakers to mine. Before that it was quite poor and hard to listen to, on any channel. My uncle, who is 87,complained to me about the same problem with his new telly, he has now hooked up an Akai amp and some Wharfedale Lintons he bought back in about 1971 and reports that is the problem solved.

I bet all those complaints to the BBC about SS-GB were from over 60s who don't realise that the sound quality on their fancy new telly is the issue and are blaming the BBC instead.

[struth]

A lot of tvs have a speach setting which i find good.

[Beobloke]

I think it is the crappy sound on these flat panel tvs that is the problem, not the BBC. I've had no issues since hooking up an amp and speakers to mine. Before that it was quite poor and hard to listen to, on any channel. My uncle, who is 87,complained to me about the same problem with his new telly, he has now hooked up an Akai amp and some Wharfedale Lintons he bought back in about 1971 and reports that is the problem solved.

I bet all those complaints to the BBC about SS-GB were from over 60s who don't realise that the sound quality on their fancy new telly is the issue and are blaming the BBC instead.

^^^So much this^^^

I've watched a few of these series that have supposedly had intelligibility issues and found no problem at all, I suspect because my TV goes through the hi-fi. Frankly, I agree with Jamie that the biggest issue seems to be the disparity between advert and programme volume!

[Macca]

I recall a lot of people complained about Brian Cox's science docs, saying they could not hear what he was saying over the background music and demanding that he speak up a bit (sonny). I bet that was the same problem.

They might be better off having him do a documentary about how to get decent sound quality from your television.

[Joe]

I think it is the crappy sound on these flat panel tvs that is the problem, not the BBC. I've had no issues since hooking up an amp and speakers to mine. Before that it was quite poor and hard to listen to, on any channel. My uncle, who is 87,complained to me about the same problem with his new telly, he has now hooked up an Akai amp and some Wharfedale Lintons he bought back in about 1971 and reports that is the problem solved.

I bet all those complaints to the BBC about SS-GB were from over 60s who don't realise that the sound quality on their fancy new telly is the issue and are blaming the BBC instead.

Plus they're probably going deaf and are in denial about it. Personally I can follow TV/film dialogue fine most of the time, even via the laptop, though I sometimes fail to hear the doorbell ringing.

[Macca]

Plus they're probably going deaf and are in denial about it. Personally I can follow TV/film dialogue fine most of the time, even via the laptop, though I sometimes fail to hear the doorbell ringing.

That could be part of it, and Cox's dulcet tones may be another contributory factor.

My doorbell had an eppy and died several years ago. Not replaced it as I never answer the door to unsolicited callers in any case. I mean it isn't going to be good news, is it? If you want me to answer the door call me on my mobile. Don't have my mobile number? Then you're shit out of luck.

[Barry]

what pisses me off is the adverts are louder so you have to keep adjusting the volume

It's the adverts which pay for the service, so the broadcaster is bound to make them louder. Just don't watch commercial telly (but you would still have to pay for it).

But returning to the sound quality of speech, I find these days the continuity announcers on BBC radio seem to have uneccessary and unrealistically deep-sounding voices.

[Macca]

Tape commercial telly then watch it later and just fast forward through the adverts. Still amazes me that there are people who don't use that facility. It's the greatest invention of our times.

[Pieoftheday]

A lot of tvs have a speach setting which i find good.

My Samsung has a clear speech setting that works quite well though I usually fire up my amp and speakers for films and stuff like game of thrones, much better:)

[prestonchipfryer]

what pisses me off is the adverts are louder so you have to keep adjusting the volume

This seems to be a problem with a number of channels. We find we are constantly adjusting the tv volume. Adverts just piss me off period. :)

[narabdela]

They used to say 'bring back prescription'.

Conscription?

[walpurgis]

Conscription?

HaHa. Quite right. I wonder how I managed to cock that up? :D Corrected.

[RothwellAudio]

Tape commercial telly...

Tape? What is this tape of which you speak? :scratch:

[Barry]

Tape? What is this tape of which you speak? :scratch:

A figure of speech for a hard disk recorder. ;)

[Macca]

I like to pepper my speech with anachronisms. Confuses the youngsters

[Firebottle]

It confuses the rest of us, never mind the youngsters :eyebrows:

[walpurgis]

Don't like youngsters. I know what they're like, I used to be one! :D

[Pharos]

What you say is contrary to my experience Andrew, and surely the loss of presence and top are a real problem with speech intelligibility, on which it depends.

This evening, as is the case so often, a lavalier was under a guy's chin on his crewe neck, probably getting proximity boost as well as the loss described, and not bothering to use the other side of a jacket to ensure that the mic is up rather than down is pure laziness.

When I mixed radio programmes I was criticised for even a small angle off axis, and very little of what is churned out now would have been acceptable then.

[RothwellAudio]

What you say is contrary to my experience Andrew, and surely the loss of presence and top are a real problem with speech intelligibility, on which it depends.

This evening, as is the case so often, a lavalier was under a guy's chin on his crewe neck, probably getting proximity boost as well as the loss described, and not bothering to use the other side of a jacket to ensure that the mic is up rather than down is pure laziness.

When I mixed radio programmes I was criticised for even a small angle off axis, and very little of what is churned out now would have been acceptable then.

Yes, I agree, the mic has to be used competently to get good results. I only meant that the microphones themselves are not poor devices imho and although the term "electret" has some bad connotations I have found them to be excellent in terms of sound quality, though the signal-to-noise ratio isn't up there with the best.