Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IISFraunhofer Technology Selected as a Reference for Future MPEG Standard for Delivery of High-Quality 3D Audio Content
The selection continues a tradition of excellence for audio codec technology. Following a rigorous testing and selection process that included a total of ten test labs worldwide, more than 50 listeners and more than 41,000 subjective responses, the standardization body Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) selected the Fraunhofer IIS channel/object-based proposal to provide a basis for the future MPEG-H 3D Audio standard for the delivery of high-quality 3D audio content.
Submissions from leading audio research facilities across the globe were considered and tested for two use-cases: channel/object-based and scene-based audio signals.
Fraunhofer’s proposal consisted of an Extended HE-AAC based audio codec and a 3D rendering engine. This technology supports the efficient transmission of 3D audio signals and flexible rendering for the playback of 3D audio in a wide variety of listening scenarios. These include 3D home theater setups, 22.2 loudspeaker systems, automotive entertainment systems and playback over headphones connected to a tablet or smartphone.
“Fraunhofer IIS is proud to develop leading audio technologies that meet the high standards of MPEG,” Harald Popp, head of the Audio & Multimedia Business department at Fraunhofer IIS, stated. “Similar to previous standardization activities of MPEG, Fraunhofer IIS’s proposal was selected once again for its superior audio quality and performance,” he added.
The winning channel/object-based and scene-based proposals will be merged in the future standardization process to be finalized in early 2015. This technology represents the latest stage in a successful history of audio innovation for Fraunhofer.