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AES Press Release

AES Incubating New Audio Standards for Sound Systems in Rooms

For Release: March 11, 2013

Bruce Olson

AES Standards Committee Forms SC-04-08 Working Group

NEW YORK: Bruce Olson, chair of the AES Standards Committee, has announced the creation of a new standards working group, SC-04-08, on Measurement and Equalization of Sound Systems in Rooms. Olson has also named Ben Kok—an experienced acoustic consultant from the Netherlands—the working group chairman. The group will draw from expertise already contributing to AES Standards and invites participation from other interested experts.

Two newly initiated projects have been assigned to this group, developed from an initial proposal presented by the AES Technical Committee on Sound for Digital Cinema and Television, chaired by Brian McCarty. They are:

AES-X218: Measurement and Calibration of Sound Systems in Rooms

Intended to document parameters affecting the audience experience of a sound system in a generalized room, and identify appropriate objective methods of measurements to quantify them. The intent is to identify tools and procedures to measure the performance of a loudspeaker system in a room, and support accurate, reliable calibration of this system to a specified performance. The findings of the working group will be published in an AES Standards Information Document.

The rationale for this project considers that the measurement of sound systems in rooms, including but not limited to cinema B-chains, currently relies on empirical measurement techniques developed in the 1970s. Modern methods and equipment should offer simpler and more accurate ways to calibrate rooms with greater precision. This project will review the parameters that affect the audience experience in these rooms, and the objective methods of measurement necessary to quantify them. This will provide a basis for more detailed standardization for measurements and calibration protocols for controllable parameters.

AES-X219: Method of measurement for frequency and impulse response of sound systems in auditoria

This project is to specify a method of measurement for frequency and impulse response of sound systems in auditoria. The project is intended to produce a Standard, and the development discussions are expected to draw on modern measurement techniques. 

The audience experience of sound reproduced through loudspeakers in an auditorium can vary greatly. In many applications where sound is reproduced in auditoria, a predictable performance is valued. While a number of different electro-acoustic and acoustic parameters contribute to this experience, a standard method of measuring the frequency and impulse response of the sound as presented to the audience by a loudspeaker system will be a necessary part of any more general solution.

The first face-to-face meeting of working group SC-04-08 will be held at the 134th AES Convention in Rome May 4-7, 2013.

More information on the projects:

http://www.aes.org/standards/meetings/new-projects.cfm 

More information on AES Standards

http://www.aes.org/standards/  

 

Photo: Bruce Olson, Chair of AES Standards Committee

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The Audio Engineering Society was formed in 1948 by a group of concerned audio engineers. The AES counts over 14,000 members throughout the U.S., Latin America, Europe, Japan and the Far East. The organization serves as the pivotal force in the exchange and dissemination of technical information for the industry. For additional information visit http://www.aes.org

 

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