# US 10,375,496 B2 · Binaural dialogue enhancement

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- Number: US 10,375,496 B2
- Document ID: US10375496B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 16/073,149
- Filed: 2017-01-26
- Published: 2019-01-31
- Granted: 2019-08-06
- Earliest claimed: 2016-01-29
- Assignees: Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation; Dolby International AB
- Applicants: Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation; Dolby International AB
- Inventors: Leif Jonas Samuelsson; Dirk Jeroen Breebaart; David Matthew Cooper; Jeroen Koppens
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10375496B2

## CPC

- H04S 1/002: {Non-adaptive circuits, e.g. manually adjustable or static, for enhancing the sound image or the spatial distribution (control circuits for electronic adaptation of the sound field H04S7/30)}
- H04R 5/04: Circuit arrangements, {e.g. for selective connection of amplifier inputs/outputs to loudspeakers, for loudspeaker detection, or for adaptation of settings to personal preferences or hearing impairments (combinations of amplifiers H03F3/68; stereophonic systems H04S)}
- H04S 3/00: Systems employing more than two channels, e.g. quadraphonic (H04S5/00, H04S7/00 take precedence)
- H04S 7/303: {Tracking of listener position or orientation}
- H04S 3/008: {in which the audio signals are in digital form, i.e. employing more than two discrete digital channels (data reduction aspects thereof based on psychoacoustics G10L19/02)}
- H04S 3/02: of the matrix type, i.e. in which input signals are combined algebraically, e.g. after having been phase shifted with respect to each other
- H04S 2420/01: Enhancing the perception of the sound image or of the spatial distribution using head related transfer functions [HRTF's] or equivalents thereof, e.g. interaural time difference [ITD] or interaural level difference [ILD]
- H04S 2420/03: Application of parametric coding in stereophonic audio systems
- H04S: STEREOPHONIC SYSTEMS
- H04R: LOUDSPEAKERS, MICROPHONES, GRAMOPHONE PICK-UPS OR LIKE ACOUSTIC ELECTROMECHANICAL TRANSDUCERS; ELECTRIC HEARING AIDS; PUBLIC ADDRESS SYSTEMS (producing sounds with frequency not determined by supply frequency G10K)

## Abstract

Methods for dialog enhancing audio content, comprising providing a first audio signal presentation of the audio components, providing a second audio signal presentation, receiving a set of dialog estimation parameters configured to enable estimation of dialog components from the first audio signal presentation, applying said set of dialog estimation parameters to said first audio signal presentation, to form a dialog presentation of the dialog components; and combining the dialog presentation with said second audio signal presentation to form a dialog enhanced audio signal presentation for reproduction on the second audio reproduction system, wherein at least one of said first and second audio signal presentation is a binaural audio signal presentation.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method for dialogue enhancing audio content having one or more audio components, wherein each component is associated with a spatial location, comprising:
providing a first audio signal presentation of the audio components intended for reproduction on a first audio reproduction system;
providing a second audio signal presentation of the audio components intended for reproduction on a second audio reproduction system;
receiving a set of dialogue estimation parameters configured to enable estimation of dialogue components from the first audio signal presentation;
applying said set of dialogue estimation parameters to said first audio signal presentation, to form a dialogue presentation of the dialogue components; and
combining the dialogue presentation with said second audio signal presentation to form a dialogue enhanced audio signal presentation for reproduction on the second audio reproduction system;
wherein at least one of said first and second audio signal presentation is a binaural audio signal presentation.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1, wherein both said first and second audio signal presentations are binaural audio signal presentations.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The method according to claim 2, wherein providing said first audio signal presentation includes receiving an initial audio signal presentation and a set of presentation transform parameters, and applying said set of presentation transform parameters to the initial audio signal presentation.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1, wherein only one of said first and second audio signal presentation is a binaural audio signal presentation.

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

The method according to claim 4, wherein another of said first and second audio signal presentation is a stereo or surround audio signal presentation.

### Claim 6 (depends on 4)

The method according to claim 4, further comprising receiving a set of dialogue transform parameters and applying the set of dialogue transform parameters before or after application of said set of dialogue estimation parameters to form a transformed dialogue presentation corresponding to the second audio signal presentation.

### Claim 7 (depends on 4)

The method according to claim 4, wherein said dialogue estimation parameters are configured to also perform a presentation transform, so that the dialogue presentation corresponds to the second audio signal presentation.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1, further comprising receiving a set of presentation transform parameters configured to enable transformation of said first audio signal presentation into said second audio signal presentation, and applying the set of presentation transform parameters to the first audio signal presentation to form the second audio signal presentation.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The method according to claim 8, further comprising applying said set of presentation transform parameters before or after application of said set of dialogue estimation parameters to form a transformed dialogue presentation corresponding to the second audio signal presentation.

### Claim 10 (depends on 8)

The method according to claim 8, wherein the step of combining the dialogue presentation with the second audio signal presentation includes forming a sum of the dialogue presentation and the first audio signal presentation and applying the set of presentation transform parameters to the sum.

### Claim 11 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1, further comprising applying a level modification by a factor G to the dialogue presentation.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The method according to claim 11, wherein a first processing is applied when G is less than a given threshold, and a second processing is applied when G is greater than said threshold.

### Claim 13 (depends on 12)

The method according to claim 12, wherein the threshold is equal to zero, wherein G<0 represents attenuation of dialogue and G>0 represents enhancement of dialogue.

### Claim 14 (depends on 12)

The method according to claim 12, wherein the first processing comprises forming a sum of the dialogue presentation and the first audio signal presentation and applying a set of presentation transform parameters to the sum.

### Claim 15 (depends on 12)

The method according to claim 12, wherein the second processing comprises applying a set of presentation transform parameters before or after application of said set of dialogue estimation parameters to form a transformed dialogue presentation corresponding to the second audio signal presentation.

### Claim 16 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1, wherein the dialogue presentation is a mono presentation, and further comprising:
receiving positional data related to said dialogue components,
rendering the mono dialogue presentation using the positional data before combining with the second audio signal presentation.

### Claim 17 (depends on 16)

The method according to claim 16, wherein the rendering includes either:
selecting head related transfer functions (HRTFs) from a library based on the positional data, and applying the selected HRTFs to the mono dialogue presentation; or amplitude panning.

### Claim 18

A method for dialogue enhancing audio content having one or more audio components, wherein each component is associated with a spatial location, comprising:
receiving a first audio signal presentation of the audio components intended for reproduction on a first audio reproduction system;
receiving a set of presentation transform parameters configured to enable transformation of said first audio signal presentation into said second audio signal presentation intended for reproduction on a second audio reproduction system;
receiving a set of dialogue estimation parameters configured to enable estimation of dialogue components from the second audio signal presentation;
applying the set of presentation transform parameters to the first audio signal presentation to form a second audio signal presentation;
applying the set of dialogue estimation parameters to the second audio signal presentation to form a dialogue presentation of the dialogue components; and
summing the dialogue presentation with the second audio signal presentation to form a dialogue enhanced audio signal presentation for reproduction on the second audio reproduction system;
wherein only one of the first audio signal presentation and the second audio signal presentation is a binaural audio signal presentation.

### Claim 19

A decoder for dialogue enhancing audio content having one or more audio components, wherein each component is associated with a spatial location, comprising:
a core decoder for receiving and decoding a first audio signal presentation of the audio components intended for reproduction on a first audio reproduction system and a set of dialogue estimation parameters configured to enable estimation of dialogue components from the first audio signal presentation;
a dialogue estimator for applying said set of dialogue estimation parameters to said first audio signal presentation, to form a dialogue presentation of the dialogue components; and
means for combining the dialogue presentation with a second audio signal presentation to form a dialogue enhanced audio signal presentation for reproduction on a second audio reproduction system;
wherein at least one of said first and second audio signal presentation is a binaural audio signal presentation.

### Claim 20

A decoder for dialogue enhancing audio content having one or more audio components, wherein each component is associated with a spatial location, comprising:
a core decoder for receiving a first audio signal presentation of the audio components intended for reproduction on a first audio reproduction system, a set of presentation transform parameters configured to enable transformation of said first audio signal presentation into a second audio signal presentation intended for reproduction on a second audio reproduction system, and a set of dialogue estimation parameters configured to enable estimation of dialogue components from the first audio signal presentation;
a transform unit configured to apply the set of presentation transform parameters to the first audio signal presentation to form a second audio signal presentation intended for reproduction on a second audio reproduction system;
a dialogue estimator for applying the set of dialogue estimation parameters to the second audio signal presentation to form a dialogue presentation of the dialogue components; and
a summation block for summing the dialogue presentation with the second audio signal presentation to form a dialogue enhanced audio signal presentation for reproduction on the second audio reproduction system;
wherein only one of the first audio signal presentation and the second audio signal presentation is a binaural audio signal presentation.
