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麻豆官网首页入口 R&D launches the Audio Research Partnership - recruiting senior audio expert to lead!

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Graham Thomas Graham Thomas | 10:00 UK time, Friday, 8 July 2011

Today (8th July), we are holding a launch event for the 麻豆官网首页入口 Audio Research Partnership at the 麻豆官网首页入口鈥檚 new buildings at MediaCityUK in Salford. This marks the culmination of over a year of discussions and meetings between 麻豆官网首页入口 R&D and the UK鈥檚 top universities in audio and audio-visual research. We will be working with five world-leading university partners, selected for their relevance to 麻豆官网首页入口 R&D鈥檚 current audio ambitions. Our primary partners will be Surrey University for audio-visual research and Salford University for acoustics research. We will also be working closely with Southampton, Queen Mary, University of London, and York. The 麻豆官网首页入口 has committed to the partnership for at least five years.听 The 麻豆官网首页入口鈥檚 Head of Audio and Music, Tim Davie, will formally launch the partnership in front of an audience of invitees from industry and academia, and the event will then provide a networking opportunity with some demos and posters from the 麻豆官网首页入口 and its new partners.

A Soundfield(registered trade mark) microphone being used for capturing audio for 麻豆官网首页入口 Research & Development experiments with Ambisonics

A Soundfield(registered trade mark) microphone being used for capturing audio for 麻豆官网首页入口 Research & Development experiments with Ambisonics


麻豆官网首页入口 R&D has been active in audio research for many decades; for example we used to be involved in areas such as loudspeaker design and acoustics for studios, were responsible for some of the first work on digital audio, and more recently have been playing a pivotal role in the development of standards for loudness measurement.听 The need for the 麻豆官网首页入口 to be at the forefront of audio and audio-visual R&D has never been greater, with ever-advancing developments in technology, that offer new ways for audiences to consume our audio content.听 There is also a real need to improve efficiency and reduce costs.听 However, we do not have the in-house resources to do justice to the full range of possibilities that audio now has to offer, and even if we did, we would be missing a trick if we overlooked the world-leading expertise available in the UK academic sector.

麻豆官网首页入口 R&D's new listening room at MediaCityUK, with a set of speakers for 3D sound tests

麻豆官网首页入口 R&D's new listening room at MediaCityUK, with a set of speakers for 3D sound tests

The opening of 麻豆官网首页入口 R&D鈥檚 new lab at MediaCityUK, Salford, has provided a particular impetus for growing our internal audio R&D activities. We now have a team of 6 R&D engineers across our North & South labs, which gives us enough effort to be able to support a new kind of academic collaboration 鈥 a long-term strategic relationship with the UK鈥檚 leading universities.听 This will allow us to bring significant effort to bear on some key challenges, producing solutions that the 麻豆官网首页入口 can turn into services or industry can turn into products.

To further strengthen our audio team, and to help provide leadership to our new lab in Salford, we want to with a strong background in audio. This person will be based in Salford but will lead 麻豆官网首页入口 R&D鈥檚 audio team across both labs, as well as leading our involvement in the Audio Research Partnership.

A software-based Ambisonics decode being used in the 麻豆官网首页入口 R&D listening room.

A software-based Ambisonics decode being used in the 麻豆官网首页入口 R&D listening room.

Some examples of the key challenges we will be addressing with our academic partners are as follows:

  • Could spatial audio be the next major advance for our audiences? We will work with our partners to study the options for true 3D sound - that can envelop the listener from above and below as well as all sides.
  • Can arrangements of many speakers be made practical in a typical living room?
  • Could 3D audio realistically be delivered via headphones?
  • Can we develop ways of separating (or 鈥渦n-mixing鈥) audio signals that work in practical situations, allowing us to eliminate microphone cross-talk in recording, or allow listeners to re-mix a programme to improve the audibility of dialogue?
  • Can we up-mix archived TV programmes from mono or stereo to 5.1 or full spatial audio by analysing the video to place sounds at the right 3D location?
  • Can we build on recent advances in automatic metadata generation to provide new tools for both programme makers and our audiences?
  • Can music information retrieval help both listeners and production teams navigate around music collections more easily?
  • Has speech recognition improved to the stage where we can use it to help navigate programmes or provide better services?
  • Can we improve the intelligibility of compressed audio, particularly for the hearing-impaired?
  • What new creative and artistic possibilities does spatial audio present?

I鈥檇 like to thank my 麻豆官网首页入口 colleagues who have worked hard to bring the collaboration together, particularly the six engineers in our audio team, and Samantha Chadwick (our Strategic Partnerships Executive).听 I鈥檇 also like to thank our colleagues in our partner universities who have enthusiastically embraced the initiative. With the launch of the 麻豆官网首页入口 Audio Research Partnership, we are ready to take the next big step in the evolution of audio!

Comments

  • Comment number 1.

    It's great to see the 麻豆官网首页入口 still continuing work on surround sound, starting of course, with Matrix H.

    The question i'd like to ask is: Are there going to be UHJ broadcasts from the proms this year?

    Like many people, it is possible to software decode UHJ for home use, all we need is the software.

    Richard


  • Comment number 2.

    Dear oxforddickie

    We are investigating the options to deliver content to our audience using multi-channel sound at some point in the future, but we do not currently plan to broadcast the Proms Concerts in any Ambisonic format.

    Following a successful trial during the last week of the 麻豆官网首页入口 Proms concerts in 2010, you can enjoy all of this year鈥檚 Proms Concerts in a high bit rate and wide dynamic range with our 鈥淗D Sound鈥 internet stream. The stream is available on the Radio 3 home page /radio3/ and I hope this is some compensation for the current lack of surround sound content.

    Rupert Brun
    Head of Technology for 麻豆官网首页入口 Audio & Music.

  • Comment number 3.

    Sorry Rupert, but your claim that the 麻豆官网首页入口 Proms Concerts can all be enjoyed in HD Sound is inaccurate. The HD Sound system is broken, and has been for most of the day. Please can you get it sorted. This is the second time during this season's Proms the HD Sound stream had gone haywire. I think it needs some form of software monitoring to alert you to such problems as it currently suffers from.

  • Comment number 4.

    Also, I would add that Proms 1 and 4 did not have a "wide dynamic range" via any of the transmission modes, including HD Sound. The audio was severely compressed, resulting in peaks you could lay a ruler along, and indeed a peak level of around 12dB below clipping level. Did someone accidentally flick a limiter switch at the mixing desk?

  • Comment number 5.

    Slight update re. the HD Sound stream. The current problem does not obtain re. the iTunes/radio/classical/麻豆官网首页入口 Radio 3 High route, but does when accessing via the link on the page in turn linked to by Rupert Brun above.

  • Comment number 6.

    Dear "Nethersage". I'm sorry there were technical problems at the Royal Albert Hall for Proms 1 & 4 which reduced the dynamic range as you noted. There is also an intermittent fault which can result in the audio stream becoming garbled; we are working with the suppliers to rectify this as soon as possible.

    Rupert Brun
    Head of Technology for 麻豆官网首页入口 Audio & Music.

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