FIELD: physics, acoustics.
SUBSTANCE: invention relates to processing audio signals, particularly to improving intelligibility of dialogue and oral speech, for example, in surround entertainment ambient sound. A multichannel audio signal is processed to form a first characteristic and a second characteristic. The first channel is processed to generate a speech probability value. The first characteristic corresponds to a first measured indicator which depends on the signal level in the first channel of the multichannel audio signal containing speech and non-speech audio. The second characteristic corresponds to a second measured indicator which depends on the signal level in the second channel of the multichannel audio signal primarily containing non-speech audio. Further, the first and second characteristics of the multichannel audio signal are compared to generate an attenuation coefficient, wherein the difference between the first measured indicator and the second measured indicator is determined, and the attenuation coefficient is calculated based on the obtained difference and a threshold value. The attenuation coefficient is then adjusted in accordance with the speech probability value and the second channel is attenuated using the adjusted attenuation coefficient.
EFFECT: improved speech perceptibility.
12 cl, 5 dwg
