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Five reasons we should listen more closely to TV dialogue

<p>People often ask me why <a href="http://www.qadda.com/MonikasResearch.html">I study television dialogue</a>. Behind such a question sometimes lie deep-seated assumptions about the low value of popular culture.</p> <p>Such underlying assumptions can extend not just to the cultural product itself, but also to its systematic (academic) study. In other words, if pop culture is worthless, then surely its study is also worthless.</p> <p>Nevertheless, television scholars have been analysing television for more than 30 years. But linguists have only recently started to examine the <em>language</em> of TV series, in other words TV dialogue. We all know a <a href="http://www.tvguide.com/news/tvs-60-greatest-catchphrases-1070102.aspx">TV catchphrase or two</a>, but the influence of TV series on our culture is both more subtle and more widespread than this.</p> <p>We need to pay attention to TV series and the dialogue they contain. Here are five reasons why:</p> <h2>1) It’s everywhere</h2> <p><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/46278/original/q5dfqxb6-1397432819.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="" /> <span class="caption">Netflix tweet quoting House of Cards.</span></p> <p>TV dialogue used to be something that we only encountered when watching our favourite series live on television. The rise of new technologies means there’s more opportunity for us than ever to consume TV dialogue. We can now engage with it whenever and wherever we want.</p> <p><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/47091/original/w9cmv268-1398643354.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=237&amp;fit=clip" alt="" /> <span class="caption">A catchphrase from the Big Bang Theory - on a t-shirt.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Monika Bednarek</span></span></p> <p>New technologies also expose us to TV dialogue through other ways. Friends might live-tweet a dialogue snippet from a shared favourite show. Fan websites might ask us to nominate our most beloved dialogue exchange. Networks might advertise their latest show through TV quotes.</p> <p>TV dialogue is even wearable, and we can use our bodies to put it on display.</p> <h2>2) It’s incredibly popular around the globe</h2> <p>TV series are hugely popular cultural products. They attract billions of viewers around the globe. TV series from the US and Britain are especially successful – from <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1606375/?ref_=nv_sr_1">Downton Abbey</a> to <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0436992/?ref_=nv_sr_1">Doctor Who</a>, from <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0944947/?ref_=nv_sr_1">Game of Thrones</a> to <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1442437/?ref_=nv_sr_1">Modern Family</a>.</p> <p>This means that we all encounter a lot of American and British English without even leaving Australia. And the same goes for audiences who speak English as <a href="http://grammar.about.com/od/e/g/English-As-A-Foreign-Language-Efl.htm">a second or foreign language</a>. TV dialogue is actually used to learn and teach English around the world.</p> <p>I know for sure this was the case for me. Growing up in Germany, I complemented my English lessons by watching endless re-runs of American TV series. I still remember learning expressions like <em>fall</em> (for autumn), <em>take a raincheck</em>, and how to pronounce the word <em>psychology</em> from watching TV.</p> <p>TV dialogue clearly crosses national borders. Not just when American, British or Australian TV series make it overseas.</p> <p>European TV series like <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0826760/?ref_=nv_sr_2">The Killing</a>, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1733785/?ref_=nv_sr_2">The Bridge</a> or <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2521668/?ref_=nv_sr_1">The Returned</a> have been huge hits in English-speaking nations, too.</p> <p><iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/P2Eh1kwxWRI?wmode=transparent&amp;start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe> <span class="caption">“You’re actually watching something with subtitles?”</span></p> <p>This is fertile ground for research into languages and cultures: What gets taken up in the transference of the dialogue from one culture to another, through dubbing and subtitling? And how is Australian TV dialogue different from American TV dialogue? Or French from British?</p> <h2>3) It’s high-quality writing</h2> <p>Reading about TV series, I keep encountering the expression “<a href="http://www.avclub.com/article/the-golden-age-of-tv-is-dead-long-live-the-golden--103129">golden age of television</a>”. This usually refers to the recent emergence of high-quality TV series funded by networks like <a href="http://www.hbo.com/">HBO</a>, <a href="http://www.amctv.com/">AMC</a>, <a href="http://www.sho.com/sho/home">Showtime</a>, and the online distributor <a href="https://www.netflix.com/">Netflix</a>.</p> <p>TV dialogue now definitely needs to be taken seriously in terms of its artistic sophistication. Programmes like <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0903747/?ref_=nv_sr_1">Breaking Bad</a>, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0306414/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">The Wire</a> or Australia’s <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1530541/?ref_=nv_sr_1">Offspring</a> receive critical acclaim and are nominated for awards.</p> <p>Australians tuned into the Logies last night, with its category of <a href="http://www.tvtonight.com.au/2014/04/logie-awards-2014-winners.html">outstanding drama series won by Redfern Now</a>. In a couple of weeks we’ll know who was successful at the <a href="http://awards.bafta.org/award/2014/television">British Academy Television Awards</a>. Then there are also the Emmys coming up in August and the Golden Globes which took place back in January.</p> <p>Allan Ball, the creator of <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0844441/?ref_=nv_sr_1">True Blood</a> and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0248654/?ref_=nv_sr_1">Six Feet Under</a>, has suggested that “television right now is far more welcoming to interesting, complicated, nuanced storytelling for adults than movies are”.</p> <p><iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hPhhF-NbUvw?wmode=transparent&amp;start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe> <span class="caption">Alan Ball at the Opera House.</span></p> <p>In such quality series, TV audiences encounter sophisticated characters with depth. We are also asked to follow sometimes difficult dialogue and get into complex story arcs that span many episodes or even seasons. This is one of the reasons why literary and cultural scholars also study TV series. For example, in 2010 researchers at The University of Sydney organised a symposium on Mad Men. Last year I participated in a <a href="http://arts.brookes.ac.uk/events/items/140913-crime-drama-symposium.html">symposium on TV crime drama at Oxford Brookes University</a>.</p> <p><iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JEMbzcHzR30?wmode=transparent&amp;start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe> <span class="caption">Writing Mad Men.</span></p> <p>But it’s not just in academia that TV writing has become more valued. Interviews with TV writers and creators are regularly published in the media. Writers/creators like Alan Ball and Joss Whedon (of cult series <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118276/?ref_=nv_sr_1">Buffy the Vampire Slayer</a>) speak to sold-out audiences at the Sydney Opera House.</p> <p><iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SMuZs5iPdgw?wmode=transparent&amp;start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe> <span class="caption">Joss Whedon at the Sydney Opera House.</span></p> <p>On 1 May, Vince Gilligan (who created Breaking Bad) will speak at Sydney Town Hall. The Sydney Writer’s Festival event was sold out within days. At the beginning of the 21st century, we clearly value high-quality TV dialogue.</p> <h2>4) It engages us on a social and psychological level</h2> <p>Watching TV series has long been more than an isolated and isolating experience. TV dialogue engages us on a social level. We watch TV series together or talk to each other about them, at home, among friends and colleagues, and with strangers.</p> <p>We also build virtual communities around a TV series, for example on fan websites, facebook or Twitter. As crossword maker and Sydney Morning Herald columnist <a href="http://davidastle.com/">David Astle</a> put it: “<a href="http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/bigideas/are-the-mass-media-the-clearing-houses-of-english/3592934">TV transcends the TV room</a>”.</p> <p><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/46298/original/pcmn5zj3-1397438393.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="" /> <span class="caption">Virtual sociality from HBO.</span></p> <p>TV dialogue also engages us on a psychological level. The TV characters that we encounter may become objects of hate, admiration or identification. We clearly engage with them emotionally. Researchers speak of the ‘<a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1207/S1532785XMEP0403_04#.U0NeU1fDU1w">para-social’ relationships</a> we form with such characters.</p> <p>TV dialogue clearly has an important role to play in building these characters. <a href="http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/multi.2012.31.2.issue-2/multi-2012-0010/multi-2012-0010.xml?format=INT">In one of my studies</a> I wanted to know what makes The Big Bang Theory’s Sheldon so “special”. The study showed how specific cues in the dialogue make him a nerd-par-excellence, like his inappropriate use of formal language and unintentional impoliteness.</p> <h2>5) It tells us important stories about our world</h2> <p>TV dialogue tells us and teaches us a lot about the world we live in. Philosopher Mark Rowlands has written a book about TV series with the tongue-in-cheek title <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Everything-Know-Learned-Philosophy-Explained/dp/0091898358">Everything I Know I Learned from TV.</a></p> <p>To put it strongly, TV tells us who we are and how we live. For example, medical shows like House and Nurse Jackie address ethical issues and the work-life balance. Crime series are often propelled by current social issues or actual cases. Political dramas like West Wing and House of Cards provide searing political commentary. Programmes like Deadwood tackle human nature and morality.</p> <p>Only recently, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2014/apr/07/game-of-thrones-parallels-prime-minister">Julia Gillard compared Game of Thrones to her time as Prime Minister</a>. In her words, “after all, what girl has not yearned for a few dragons when in a tight spot?”</p> <p>For me, writing is at the centre of telling these stories about our world. And this is just one of five reasons why I believe we need to pay close attention to TV dialogue.<!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><span><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/monika-bednarek-121197">Monika Bednarek</a>, Senior Lecturer in Linguistics, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-sydney-841">University of Sydney</a></em></span></p> <p>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/five-reasons-we-should-listen-more-closely-to-tv-dialogue-25585">original article</a>.</p> <p><em>Image: HBO</em></p>

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Why some TV dialogue is so hard to hear

<p><em><strong>Lauren Ward is a Doctoral researcher in Audio Engineering and General Sir John Monash Scholar the University of Salford.</strong></em></p> <p>Within 24 hours of the first episode of wartime drama SS-GB being broadcast <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-39038406" target="_blank">the BBC received 100 complaints</a></strong></span>. Viewers took to Twitter to vent their frustrations with the sound. Many highlighted their annoyance that SS-GB was just the <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2017-02-23/why-does-yet-another-tv-drama-have-mumbling-dialogue--and-whats-the-solution" target="_blank">latest drama to be plagued with audibility problems</a></strong></span>. The debate has stretched to the <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-39489713" target="_blank">House of Lords</a></strong></span>, with peers asking whether consultation with broadcasters is needed to address the issue.</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr">Why do dramas on the BBC always mean mumbling. Couldn't watch Taboo or SS-GB without subtitles and the volume way up.</p> — Charlotte Gibbons (@C_Gibbons2005) <a href="https://twitter.com/C_Gibbons2005/status/833567761519493120">February 20, 2017</a></blockquote> <p>So is making television sound understandable as simple as asking actors to speak up? The short answer is: no. Clean recordings and well enunciated speech will always make dialogue easier to understand. However, the relationship between the audio from our television and what we understand as speech is much more complex.</p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/shortcuts/2017/feb/20/flatscreen-tvs-actors-or-realism-whats-to-blame-for-ss-gbs-mumbling-problem" target="_blank">Many news sources</a></strong></span> and <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://hansard.parliament.uk/lords/2017-04-04/debates/F84C55A0-3D8B-41F7-A19C-CC216F8C7B0B/TelevisionBroadcastsAudibility" target="_blank">some of the Lords</a></strong></span> blamed <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/02/20/ss-gb-bbc-re-examine-sound-yet-mumbling-complaints/" target="_blank">“modern flat televisions which place more emphasis on picture quality”</a></strong></span> than sound quality.</p> <p>There is some evidence to support this idea. A recent study <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.aes.org/e-lib/inst/browse.cfm?elib=18436" target="_blank">investigating how television sets effect speech intelligibility</a></strong></span> showed the frequency responses (how loud different frequencies are, relative to each other) in different television sets differed by 10 to 20 decibels. This means the low pitched, rumbling background sounds might be made louder than intended, while the higher pitched voices stay the same volume. This issue is made worse by locating the speakers in the television sets so they point downwards or even backwards.</p> <p>Speaker quality is likely a contributing factor but not all television programmes have suffered the same complaints as SS-GB. Assuming that viewers did not exclusively watch SS-GB with poor quality television speakers, this means there are other factors at play.</p> <p><strong>Have I heard this before?</strong></p> <p>Humans are quite good at understanding speech in challenging or noisy situations. <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982209016807" target="_blank">Research</a></strong></span> indicates personal and psychological factors play a role in how well we are able to do this. Similarly, these factors may affect how we hear dialogue on television.</p> <p>For example, you might find it easy to understand Bart and Homer’s banter in your 500th episode of The Simpsons while multitasking on Twitter and making a cuppa. But when the first episode of the newest crime drama comes on, you may find that you have to sit down and pay full attention to understand the speech. How well we understand speech is effected by whether we have heard a talker, a particular accent or what they are talking about before.</p> <p>The effect of a familiar speaker on how well we understand speech is termed the “Familiar Talker Advantage”. <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24131605" target="_blank">Studies have shown</a></strong></span> that we are able to understand our spouse’s voice (a highly familiar voice) better than unfamiliar voices. Even voices we have <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3081685/" target="_blank">only recently heard</a></strong></span> are easier to understand than those we are completely unfamiliar with.</p> <p>How predictable the content of the speech is also effects how easily we understand it. <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://asa.scitation.org/doi/abs/10.1121/1.381436" target="_blank">It has been well established</a></strong></span> that when we have language or content cues in the speech, we recognise speech twice as accurately, even in the most challenging of listening situations. If we hear Homer Simpson’s brazen American voice exclaiming “Who ate all the …”, our brains are likely to insert the missing word as “doughnut”, not “bell peppers”. And we probably wouldn’t even notice we were doing it.</p> <p>Happy Valley, another drama which had similar complaints to SS-GB, <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/bbc-bosses-blame-accents-yet-7381498" target="_blank">had accents pointed to as the issue</a></strong></span>. On that occasion, the Lords criticised “indecipherable regional accents”. It has been shown, for American English, that <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2744323/" target="_blank">some accents are generally harder to understand than others</a></strong></span> regardless of your own accent. Though when hearing is greatly challenged by competing noise, speech in your own accent is easier to understand.</p> <p>Familiarity with an actor’s voice, their accent and what they may be speaking about changes our perception of the clarity of dialogue. This does not solve the issue of audibility more generally though.</p> <p><strong>I’m no expert, but I know what I like</strong></p> <p>Part of what makes the problem of audible speech on television difficult to solve is that there is no consensus on what “good sound” sounds like. Even among the barrage of complaints about SS-GB, some found no issue with the dialogue.</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr">Watched SS-GB. No one mumbled. There was some bigly breathy talking going on, but no mumbles. Subtitles, headphones or better TV.</p> — Chris Bennion (@PigLimbedViking) <a href="https://twitter.com/PigLimbedViking/status/833977710682763264">February 21, 2017</a></blockquote> <p>Similar patterns have been seen in previous research by the BBC. <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/publications/whitepaper272" target="_blank">An experimental football broadcast by the BBC</a></strong></span> in 2013 allowed viewers to adjust the volume of the crowd compared with the commentary. While most users (77%) agreed that they liked the personalised broadcast, they differed in their preferences. Some balanced commentary and crowd noise while others preferred all crowd noise or all commentary.</p> <p>The technology which allowed the user to alter the sound mix in the 2013 experiment is called <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/blog/2013/05/object-based-approach-to-broadcasting" target="_blank">object based broadcasting</a></strong></span>. In the future, this may allow viewers to alter the levels of different segments of the broadcast based on their preference or their needs on their own televisions. Studies have shown that using the technology in this way can <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/7270767/" target="_blank">improve speech intelligibility</a></strong></span>. It has also been <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/publications/whitepaper324" target="_blank">proposed by the BBC</a></strong></span> as a way forward for improving television sound for the hard of hearing.</p> <p>The many factors effecting speech intelligibility mean that one particular sound mix will rarely make everyone happy. The provision of “personalisable” broadcast mixes, using object based broadcasting, may be the solution.</p> <p><em>Written by Lauren Ward. First appeared on <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://www.theconversation.com" target="_blank">The Conversation.</a></span></strong></em><img width="1" height="1" src="https://counter.theconversation.edu.au/content/75423/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-advanced" alt="The Conversation"/></p>

Hearing