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New Roku update is set to make watching movies more than enjoyable

(Image credit: Roku)

The next big Roku firmware update is coming soon, and with it a new feature that could make watching your favorite movies and shows more enjoyable by boosting the volume of dialogue.

As office of the Roku OS 11 firmware update, the company is introducing a speech recognition feature to all its best streaming sticks. If it works as intended, it should permit for spoken dialogue to stand out more without increasing the volume of other sound such as music, ambience or sound effects.

A movie's audio mix can often undercompensate for dialogue when it's competing with a variety of other audio sources. Non only should this new feature allow for a more than movie theater-like experience when watching your favorite movies and shows, it could be a welcome accessibility feature for those with hearing difficulties.

Tin you hear me now?

So how does Roku's speech recognition tech work? It'south not all that different to the agile or hybrid noise cancellation features establish in many of the best wireless earbuds and headphones.

The software identifies spoken dialogue, and runs information technology through an AI that attempts to isolate that dialogue from the rest of the audio mix. By doing so, the spoken communication recognition AI is able to heave dialogue volume independently of other audio, allowing for a greater level of clarity.

This could be super-helpful depending on the type of flick or show you're watching. For bombastic action movies, the oral communication recognition AI could bring some much-needed clarity to separate dialogue from the sounds of speeding cars or explosions, for example.

Alternatively, the more intricate dialogue of slower-paced thrillers or mysteries could be easier to follow, especially for viewers who dear hanging onto every word in order to amend brand sense of the plot.

Assay: meliorate audio for everyone

While we're large fans of annihilation that makes it easier to option out the sometimes muffled dialogue in movies and shows, we're particularly excited well-nigh the potential of this feature to improve the viewing feel for those with impaired hearing.

In some cases, these viewers may no longer have to rely on subtitles to relish their favorite movies and shows, with the boosted dialogue potentially allowing viewers to focus on the on-screen activity rather than having to glance downwards to read text.

Plus, Roku OS xi'due south upcoming sound modes, which add specific profiles for movies, music, speech and more, could work very effectively in tandem with the spoken language recognition characteristic. That could allow for all-round immersive audio while however keeping spoken dialogue at the forefront of the mix.

While a number of manufacturers accept plans to add together voice recognition smarts to their smart TVs, including TCL, Google and Amazon, Roku'due south application of the tech could be the first time we've seen it be deployed to streaming sticks specifically.

Roku streamers are already immensely popular with a wide range of demographics and age groups, and so it's great to see the brand implement the tech into its range of affordable streaming sticks without forcing people to buy a split up – and potentially expensive – smart TV to access the feature.

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Rhys is a Staff Author for TechRadar, and while relatively fresh to the role, he's been writing in a professional capacity for years. A Media, Writing and Production graduate, Rhys has prior experience creating written content for Hour companies, restaurants, app developers, It sites and toy sellers. His truthful passions, though, lie in video games, TV, audio and home entertainment. When Rhys isn't on the clock, you'll unremarkably find him logged into Final Fantasy fourteen.