Patent ID: 7974422

Claim:
An audio output mixer for adjusting sounds of a plurality of audio objects directed toward an audio output device comprising: an audio output pacer, wherein the audio output pacer: receives the plurality of audio objects, each audio object comprising: an audio content comprising audio data, and audio object attributes comprising an audio object class of a plurality of audio object classes, wherein the plurality of audio objects comprises at least one audio object comprising speech audio data and at least one audio object comprising non-speech audio data, wherein the plurality of audio object classes comprises at least one speech audio object class for the audio objects comprising speech audio data and at least one non-speech audio object class for the audio objects comprising non-speech audio data, retrieves from a storage rankings of the plurality of audio object classes of the plurality of audio objects, and modifies the sounds of one or more of the plurality of audio objects according to the rankings of the audio object classes of the plurality of audio objects, wherein the modified sounds of the audio objects comprising the speech audio object classes with a given ranking are more intelligible than the modified sounds of the audio objects comprising non-speech audio object classes with a ranking lower than the given ranking; and an audio output blender, wherein the audio object blender: receives from the audio output pacer the modified sounds of the plurality of audio objects, combines the modified sounds of the plurality of audio objects into a single audio output, and sends the single audio output to the audio output device.