Fraunhofer IIS To Present Several CES Debuts

At CES 2019, which takes place in Las Vegas from January 8 to 11, 2019, Fraunhofer IIS (booth 20236, located in South Hall 1 at the Las Vegas Convention Center) will present its latest developments in audio and media technologies, including a series of CES debuts: the first commercially available MPEG-H-enabled 3D soundbars, Sonamic Loudness for car stereos, the xHE-AAC audio codec natively supported in Android, and upHear Voice Quality Enhancement for improved speech recognition on smart devices.

First commercially available MPEG-H-enabled 3D soundbars
Fraunhofer IIS will showcase the first commercially available 3D soundbars with MPEG-H support, delivering cinema-style immersive sound to consumers. MPEG-H Audio is the first next-generation audio system used in a regular terrestrial 4K TV service and has been on the air 24/7 in South Korea since the launch of its UHDTV system in May 2017. As well as providing immersive sound, MPEG-H Audio enables the viewer to personalize a program’s audio mix, for instance by switching between different languages, enhancing dialogue or adjusting the volume of the commentator. To deliver the most immersive consumer experience of soundbars and TVs, Fraunhofer has developed the upHear Immersive Audio Virtualizer, which supports the rendering of 3D audio content as well as the upmix of legacy surround or stereo audio. Fraunhofer IIS will also be showcasing this technology at CES.

Fraunhofer Sonamic: Automotive audio
Another CES debutant is Sonamic Loudness, an automotive audio technology that offers increased comfort to the listener by providing a consistent loudness level and preserving the perceived dynamics of the content when switching between radio stations or media sources. This automatic and continuous loudness normalization function also provides for increased safety, allowing drivers to concentrate fully on the road instead of the volume.