| EPSRC Reference: |
EP/C527100/1 |
| Title: |
Hierarchical bandlimitation of surround sound - A psychoacoustical study |
| Principal Investigator: |
Zielinski, Dr S |
| Other Investigators: |
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| Project Partners: |
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| Department: |
Sound Recording |
| Organisation: |
University of Surrey |
| Scheme: |
First Grant Scheme Pre-FEC |
| Starts: |
01 October 2005 |
Ends: |
30 September 2008 |
Value (£): |
91,619
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| EPSRC Research Topic Classifications: |
| Music & Acoustic Technology |
Vision & Senses - ICT appl. |
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Summary on Grant Application Form |
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Already in cinemas and on DVDs, and to a growing extent on broadcasts and multimedia systems (e.g. computer games), 5.1-channel surround sound is the norm. It demonstrably improves the entertainment value of the programme, provides a greater sense of involvement for the consumer and brings a new dimension to communication applications. That having been said, not all homes can accommodate a full high-fidelity 5.1 surround sound system and not all broadcast or networked transmission systems can handle the data rates involved. For that reason many engineers try to quantify the perceptual effects of various simplifications and engineering trade-offs in such systems. For example, a very important (and still unanswered) engineering question is how to limit the overall bandwidth of surround sound with minimal losses in audio quality. This question will be addressed in this project. Moreover, it is proposed to develop a method for graceful bandlimitation of surround sound, that it to say, the bandlimitation causing minimal losses in audio quality. In this method original surround sound signals will be decomposed to a set of independent audio components ranked according to their order of importance. Under the restricted transmission conditions, the overall bandwidth of surround sound is squeezed to fit the available bandwidth by discarding the least important audio components. In order to develop this method a series of psychoacoustical experiments have to be undertaken. A success in this project could potentially lead to improvements in surround audio quality delivered over broadcast networks or the data networks with restricted bandwidth and could lead to more resourceful use of memory or computational power of audio systems (e.g. in computer games), just to mention some possible applications.
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Key Findings |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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Potential use in non-academic contexts |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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Impacts |
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| Description |
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk |
| Summary |
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| Date Materialised |
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Sectors submitted by the Researcher |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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| Project URL: |
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| Further Information: |
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| Organisation Website: |
http://www.surrey.ac.uk |