Preferred levels for background ducking to produce esthetically pleasing audio for TV with clear speech

Torcoli, M; Freke-Morin, A; Paulus, J; Simon, C; Shirley, BG

Abstract

In audio production, background ducking facilitates speech intelligibility while allowing the background to fulfill its purpose, e.g., to create ambience, set the mood, or convey semantic cues. Technical details for recommended ducking practices are not currently documented in the literature. Hence, we first analyzed common practices found in TV documentaries. Second, a listening test investigated the preferences of 22 normal-hearing participants on the Loud- ness Difference (LD) between commentary and background during ducking. Highly personal preferences were observed, highlighting the importance of object-based personalization. Sta- tistically significant difference was found between non-expert and expert listeners. On average, non-experts preferred LDs that were 4 LU higher than the ones preferred by experts. A sta- tistically significant difference was also found between Commentary over Music (CoM) and Commentary over Ambience (CoA). Based on the test results, we recommend at least 10 LU difference for CoM and at least 15 LU for CoA. Moreover, a computational method based on the Binaural Distortion-Weighted Glimpse Proportion (BiDWGP) was found to match the median preferred LD for each item with good accuracy (mean absolute error = 1.97 LU ± 2.50).

Citation

Torcoli, M., Freke-Morin, A., Paulus, J., Simon, C., & Shirley, B. (2019). Preferred levels for background ducking to produce esthetically pleasing audio for TV with clear speech. Journal of the Audio Engineering Society, 67(12), 1003-1011. https://doi.org/10.17743/jaes.2019.0052

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Dec 30, 2019
• Publication Date: Dec 30, 2019
• Deposit Date: Feb 14, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 14, 2020
• Journal: Journal of the Audio Engineering Society
• Print ISSN: 1549-4950
• Publisher: Audio Engineering Society
• Volume: 67
• Issue: 12
• Pages: 1003-1011
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.17743/jaes.2019.0052
• Publisher URL: https://doi-org.salford.idm.oclc.org/10.17743/jaes.2019.0052
• Related Public URLs: http://www.aes.org.salford.idm.oclc.org/journal/
• Additional Information: Access Information : Published Open Access