Spatial Audio Processing: MPEG Surround and Other Applications

Spatial Audio Processing: MPEG Surround and Other Applications

by Jeroen Breebaart, Christof Faller
Released December 2007
Publisher(s): Wiley-Interscience
ISBN: 9780470033500

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Book description

This book collects a wealth of information about spatial audio coding into one comprehensible volume. It is a thorough reference to the 3GPP and MPEG Parametric Stereo standards and the MPEG Surround multi-channel audio coding standard. It describes key developments in coding techniques, which is an important factor in the optimization of advanced entertainment, communications and signal processing applications.

Until recently, technologies for coding audio signals, such as redundancy reduction and sophisticated source and receiver models did not incorporate spatial characteristics of source and receiving ends. Spatial audio coding achieves much higher compression ratios than conventional coders. It does this by representing multi-channel audio signals as a downmix signal plus side information that describes the perceptually-relevant spatial information.

Written by experts in spatial audio coding, Spatial Audio Processing:

  • reviews psychoacoustics (the relationship between physical measures of sound and the corresponding percepts) and spatial audio sound formats and reproduction systems;

  • brings together the processing, acquisition, mixing, playback, and perception of spatial audio, with the latest coding techniques;

  • analyses algorithms for the efficient manipulation of multiple, discrete and combined spatial audio channels, including both MP3 and MPEG Surround;

  • shows how the same insights on source and receiver models can also be applied for manipulation of audio signals, such as the synthesis of virtual auditory scenes employing head-related transfer function (HRTF) processing and stereo to N-channel audio upmix.

Audio processing research engineers and audio coding research and implementation engineers will find this an insightful guide. Academic audio and psychoacoustic researchers, including post-graduate and third/fourth year students taking courses in signal processing, audio and speech processing, and telecommunications, will also benefit from the information inside.

Table of contents

  1. Cover Page
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Contents
  5. Author Biographies
  6. Foreword
  7. Preface
  8. 1: Introduction
    1. 1.1 The human auditory system
    2. 1.2 Spatial audio reproduction
    3. 1.3 Spatial audio coding
    4. 1.4 Book outline
  9. 2: Background
    1. 2.1 Introduction
    2. 2.2 Spatial audio playback systems
    3. 2.3 Audio coding
    4. 2.4 Matrix surround
    5. 2.5 Conclusions
  10. 3: Spatial Hearing
    1. 3.1 Introduction
    2. 3.2 Physiology of the human hearing system
    3. 3.3 Spatial hearing basics
    4. 3.4 Spatial hearing in rooms
    5. 3.5 Limitations of the human auditory system
    6. 3.6 Source localization in complex listening situations
    7. 3.7 Conclusions
  11. 4: Spatial Audio Coding
    1. 4.1 Introduction
    2. 4.2 Related techniques
    3. 4.3 Binaural Cue Coding (BCC)
    4. 4.4 Coding of Low-frequency Effects (LFE) Audio Channels
    5. 4.5 Subjective performance
    6. 4.6 Generalization to spatial audio coding
  12. 5: Parametric Stereo
    1. 5.1 Introduction
    2. 5.2 Interaction between core coder and spatial audio coding
    3. 5.3 Relation to BCC
    4. 5.4 Parametric stereo encoder
    5. 5.5 Parametric stereo decoder
    6. 5.6 Conclusions
  13. 6: MPEG Surround
    1. 6.1 Introduction
    2. 6.2 Spatial audio coding
    3. 6.3 MPEG Surround encoder
    4. 6.4 MPEG Surround decoder
    5. 6.5 Subjective evaluation
    6. 6.6 Conclusions
  14. 7: Binaural Cues for a Single Sound Source
    1. 7.1 Introduction
    2. 7.2 HRTF parameterization
    3. 7.3 Sound source position dependencies
    4. 7.4 HRTF set dependencies
    5. 7.5 Single ITD approximation
    6. 7.6 Conclusions
  15. 8: Binaural Cues for Multiple Sound Sources
    1. 8.1 Introduction
    2. 8.2 Binaural parameters
    3. 8.3 Binaural parameter analysis
    4. 8.4 Binaural parameter synthesis
    5. 8.5 Application to MPEG Surround
    6. 8.6 Conclusions
  16. 9: Audio Coding with Mixing Flexibility at the Decoder Side
    1. 9.1 Introduction
    2. 9.2 Motivation and details
    3. 9.3 Side information
    4. 9.4 Using spatial audio decoders as mixers
    5. 9.5 Transcoding to MPEG Surround
    6. 9.6 Conclusions
  17. 10: Multi-loudspeaker Playback of Stereo Signals
    1. 10.1 Introduction
    2. 10.2 Multi-channel stereo
    3. 10.3 Spatial decomposition of stereo signals
    4. 10.4 Reproduction using different rendering setups
    5. 10.5 Subjective evaluation
    6. 10.6 Conclusions
    7. 10.7 Acknowledgement
  18. Frequently Used Terms, Abbreviations and Notation
  19. Bibliography
  20. Index

Product information

  • Title: Spatial Audio Processing: MPEG Surround and Other Applications
  • Author(s): Jeroen Breebaart, Christof Faller
  • Release date: December 2007
  • Publisher(s): Wiley-Interscience
  • ISBN: 9780470033500