AUDIO PROCESSING FOR DETECTING OCCURRENCES OF CROWD NOISE IN SPORTING EVENT TELEVISION PROGRAMMING

Metadata for highlights of audiovisual content depicting a sporting event or other event are extracted from audiovisual content. The highlights may be segments of the content, such as a broadcast of a sporting event, that are of particular interest. Audio data for the audiovisual content is stored, and portions of the audio data indicating crowd excitement (noise) is automatically identified by analyzing an audio signal in the joint time and frequency domains. Multiple indicators are derived and subsequently processed to detect, validate, and render occurrences of crowd noise. Metadata are automatically generated, including time of occurrence, level of noise (excitement), and duration of cheering. Metadata may be stored, comprising at least a time index indicating a time, within the audiovisual content, at which each of the portions occurs. Periods of intense crowd noise may be used to identify highlights and/or to indicate crowd excitement during viewing of a highlight.