We present an Optical Audio Reconstruction (OAR) system to play the audio from gramophone records based on image processing. OAR uses an off-the-shelf scanner to achieve an affordable and practical method of reconstructing audio. Converting the analog records to a digital format is important for preserving many historical recordings. We scan the records using a high resolution large format flat-bed scanner. The images were then segmented and the grooves were tracked to simulate the movement of the stylus. The sound signal was converted from the groove track positions. Our OAR algorithm was able to reconstruct the audio successfully from scanned records. We demonstrated that a fast OAR system producing good quality sound can be built economically.

Authors: Tian, Baozhong; Sambasivam, Samuel; Barron, John
Affiliations: Azusa Pacific University, Azusa, CA, USA; The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada; West Virginia University Institute of Technology,Montgomery, WV, USA(See document for exact affiliation information.)
AES Convention: 131 (October 2011) Paper Number: 8545
Publication Date: October 19, 2011 Import into BibTeX
Subject: Posters: Recording and Reproduction
Permalink: https://www.aes.org/e-lib/browse.cfm?elib=16071

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