Methods and apparatus for decoding based on speech enhancement metadata

A method, comprising:

• receiving mixed audio content, wherein the mixed audio content includes at least a mid-channel mixed content signal and a side-channel mixed content signal, wherein the mid-channel signal represents a weighted or non-weighted sum of two channels of a reference audio channel representation, and wherein the side-channel signal represents a weighted or non-weighted difference of two channels of the reference audio channel representation;
• decoding, by an audio decoder, the mid-channel signal and the side-channel signal into a left channel signal and a right channel signal, wherein the decoding includes decoding based on speech enhancement metadata, wherein the speech enhancement metadata includes a preference flag which indicates at least a type of speech enhancement operation to be performed on the mid-channel signal and the side-channel signal during decoding, and wherein the speech enhancement metadata further indicates a first type of speech enhancement for the mid-channel signal and a second type of speech enhancement of the mid-channel signal;
• and
• generating an audio signal that comprises the left channel signal and the right channel signal for the one or more portions of the decoded mid channel signal and side-channel signal of the mixed audio content,
• wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices.