AES Publishes 3D Headphone Audio Standard

TVTechnology.com reports that the Audio Engineering Society has published AES69-2015, which describes the format and exchange of spatial acoustics files. The intent is to standardize the way audio is captured and rendered for binaural listening through smartphone and tablet headphones and other personal audio devices. Binaural listening refers to how humans and other two-eared creatures hear sound and deduce its direction and origin in 3D space. This process is quantified for reproduction via headphones and earphones using “head-related transfer functions.”

“The lack of a standard for the exchange of head-related transfer functions means each company keeps its binaural capture and rendering algorithms private,” the AES said. “The lack of a standard for the exchange of HRTF data makes it difficult for developers to exchange binaural capture and rendering algorithms effectively. While 3D audio continues to gain popularity among end users, binaural listening could be the very first 3D audio vector with sufficient fidelity of HRTF.”

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