In a bold step to address one of the most persistent complaints in media consumption—unclear dialog—UK-based NUGEN Audio has unveiled DialogCheck, an AI-powered dialog intelligibility meter built in collaboration with Netflix. The new plug-in, priced at $399, offers post-production professionals a game-changing tool to objectively assess whether every word in a soundtrack can be understood by a general audience.

For decades, engineers, mixers, and creatives have relied on subjective judgment and best practices to balance dialog with music, effects, and ambience. But as audiences grow increasingly vocal—many turning to subtitles by default—DialogCheck arrives as the first commercial product specifically designed to take the guesswork out of dialog clarity.

“If you have five people in the room assessing intelligibility, you’ll get five different answers. DialogCheck gives you a definitive answer,” says award-winning re-recording mixer Alan Sallabank, known for his work on Finding Dory and LCD Soundsystem Live at MSG.

Backed by sophisticated AI and years of psychoacoustic research, DialogCheck offers something the industry has long needed: an objective benchmark for dialog clarity, tightly integrated into post-production workflows from stereo up to immersive 7.1.4 formats.

The Problem No One Could Agree On—Until Now

Poor dialog intelligibility has been an undercurrent of discontent among audiences for years. A recent survey by the British Board of Film Classification found that up to 50% of viewers regularly switch on subtitles—not out of preference, but out of necessity. The reason? Muddled or masked dialog, overwhelmed by background music, effects, or poor enunciation.

And the problem isn’t always technical incompetence. Often, it’s the result of creative decisions that prioritize emotional ambiance or sonic impact. But as Mike Aiton (BBC Panorama, Robot Wars) notes, “We’ve spent decades perfecting what things sound like. Now we need tools that help us understand what people actually hear.”

That’s exactly where DialogCheck steps in.

The Technology Behind the Plug-In

Developed in partnership with Netflix and powered by Fraunhofer IDMT’s “Listening Effort” (LE) technology, DialogCheck merges automatic speech recognition with psychoacoustic modeling. The LE-Meter component has been validated through rigorous listening trials and delivers metrics that strongly correlate with subjective human assessments.

At the heart of DialogCheck are two AI neural networks working in tandem. They analyze the dialog and competing audio content, measuring not just volume but cognitive load—the mental effort a listener must expend to understand the speech.

The plug-in’s real-time bar meter and timecode-locked history view (inspired by NUGEN’s own VisLM) offer users a clear, intuitive visualization of dialog clarity. Users can monitor momentary clarity, median scores, and even set upper/lower percentile readouts to hone in on problem spots.

DialogCheck supports configurations up to 7.1.4, making it fully compatible with Atmos workflows and next-gen immersive audio formats. It does not process the audio itself; rather, it acts as a precision diagnostic tool—highlighting when and where dialog might be getting lost.

Part of a Larger “Dialog Integrity Pipeline”

The concept of dialog intelligibility isn’t just about decibels. Netflix, in its own tech blog, refers to the “Dialog Integrity Pipeline”—a holistic view of dialog clarity that includes everything from on-set recording quality to ADR decisions and final mix balancing.

DialogCheck fits squarely into this philosophy. Whether used in pre-production to assess raw audio clarity or in final post to fine-tune mixes, it empowers engineers to make informed decisions rather than relying on intuition dulled by hours of looping the same scene.

As any seasoned engineer knows, prolonged exposure to a mix can mask its flaws. The brain starts to “fill in” inaudible words, leading mixers to believe that everything is crystal clear when it isn’t. DialogCheck counters this by providing a consistent external metric—even after hundreds of playbacks.

Applications Across the Audio Spectrum

While clearly designed with high-end post facilities in mind, DialogCheck offers value across a broad spectrum of use cases:

– Film & TV: Ensure compliance with network deliverables and audience satisfaction.

– Podcasting & Radio: Verify vocal clarity for listeners on earbuds and in noisy environments.

– Game Audio: Validate dialog clarity within dynamic, interactive soundscapes.

– Educational & Corporate Video: Enhance accessibility without defaulting to captions.

As remote production and headphone viewing rise, audio clarity is no longer a “nice to have”—it’s central to user experience.

Final Word

DialogCheck isn’t about replacing human judgment—it’s about supporting it. In a world where one person’s “clear” is another’s “what did they say?”, NUGEN Audio has created a technical ally that finally quantifies the elusive.

With its combination of real-time analytics, AI-powered insights, and a Netflix-endorsed heritage, DialogCheck is set to become a fixture in post-production suites around the world.

Available now from NUGEN Audio for $399.