Dialogue intelligibility is a fundamental aspect of audio post-production. Ensuring speech clarity in complex sound mixes remains challenging across different playback systems. Selective auditory attention plays a central role in how listeners track dialogue in busy mixes, so small changes in spectral or spatial structure can influence perceived clarity in unexpected ways. This study investigates the effectiveness of psychoacoustically informed techniques, equalisation and spatialisation, in reducing auditory masking and improving the clarity of dialogue.
Specifically, it provides a comparative evaluation of equalisation, amplitude-based stereo panning spatialisation, and their combined effect under domestic listening conditions. The listening test was completed on participants own playback systems, trading experimental control for greater ecological validity and reflecting typical domestic viewing conditions. The techniques were tested individually and in combination to assess their impact. Results show that equalisation was more effective than spatialisation in reducing masking, while their combination produced a significant improvement in intelligibility, clarity, and reduced interference. The effectiveness of these methods varied between the two groups of clips, suggesting that their application should be adapted to the specific acoustic context of each scene.
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