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Three retired BBC executives decided to test anecdotal evidence – gleaned from their experiences, comments from associates, newspaper letters pages – that growing numbers of viewers could not fully hear and understand speech in TV programmes due to intrusive background music.
Some of the results surprised them!
Download the report summary.
Download full report.
Speech Intelligibility Report
Lack of speech intelligibility in TV programmes, especially for the over 55s and those with a hearing impairment, is a growing problem. This research, funded by both Widex and Channel 4, has thrown up some surprising causes and led to a BBC initiative to resolve it.Three retired BBC executives decided to test anecdotal evidence – gleaned from their experiences, comments from associates, newspaper letters pages – that growing numbers of viewers could not fully hear and understand speech in TV programmes due to intrusive background music.
Some of the results surprised them!
Download the report summary.
Download full report.
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