DialogCheck
by NUGEN Audio · Utility · AI dialog intelligibility meter
Not rated yet
DialogCheck is an AI-powered meter that gives an objective reading of how clear dialog is in a mix, for film, TV, radio, podcasts and games.
It uses Fraunhofer IDMT's Listening Effort technology with a VisLM-style timecode history graph, and was developed alongside Netflix.
Best for: Vocals, Mastering. Genres: Ambient & Cinematic.
Keywords: dialogue, metering, AI/machine learning, film & game audio, podcast, broadcast, enhancement, simple, inspired by, mastering, post-production, utility, vocals.
What it does
DialogCheck is "an AI-powered dialog intelligibility meter, designed to provide an objective measure of speech clarity." It is a measurement tool only and does not process the audio; it gives a mixer a "second opinion" on whether dialog will be clear to someone hearing it for the first time.
- Listening Effort Meter: built on technology from Fraunhofer IDMT's Oldenburg branch, which uses automatic speech recognition and psychoacoustic modeling and has been validated against listening tests.
- Dual neural networks: the analysis is driven by two AI networks, and the plugin was developed alongside Netflix.
- History view: a timecode-locked history graph with session offset, inspired by NUGEN's VisLM loudness meter, shows where clarity drops across a program.
- Readouts: a realtime bar meter, momentary clarity, median clarity, and user-definable upper and lower percentile readouts.
- Channel support: works on formats up to 9.1.6.
The site now advertises version 1.2.
Source: NUGEN Audio product page
When to use it
DialogCheck measures intelligibility itself, where loudness meters such as NUGEN's own VisLM, Youlean Loudness Meter 2 and iZotope Insight 2 tell you how loud dialog is, not how easy it is to understand. So it sits beside a loudness meter rather than replacing one. Unlike Waves Clarity Vx or Acon Digital Extract:Dialogue 2, which you would reach for to fix what it flags, it only measures.
- Best for: film and TV re-recording mixers, podcast and radio producers, and anyone who needs to justify dialog balance decisions to a director or client.
- Genres: film, television, documentary, podcasts and game audio rather than music.
- Look elsewhere if: you mix music, or you need a processor that cleans up dialog; DialogCheck only measures.
- Standout: a timecode-locked clarity history that pinpoints the exact sections where dialog becomes hard to follow.
What producers say
Sound On Sound's review was very positive about how simple and useful it is.
- Sound On Sound (2025) Hugh Robjohns called it "delightfully simple to both operate and comprehend" and said it lets poor-intelligibility sections be "easily identified."
- Same review: noted it is "the only system available in a standard plug-in format" for DAWs aimed at production audio.
Where to buy
- Best Service: $399
- NUGEN Audio: $399
- Plugin Boutique: $399
- PluginFox: $399
Tutorials and reviews
- NUGEN Audio DialogCheck - First Look (Production Expert)
- NEW NUGEN Audio DialogCheck - First Look & Demo (Music Marketing TV)
- NUGEN Audio’s New DialogCheck 1.2 Update | IBC2026 (KITPLUS)
- Nugen DialogCheck Review
- The Luke Review - NUGEN DialogCheck
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