Personalized and Immersive Sound Experience Based on an Interoperable NGA (Next Generation Audio) End-to-End Chain

NGA gives the best possible listening experience in varying situations (e.g., improved intelligibility and understanding, adapting to reproduction set-up and listening context, audio content tailored to individual preferences and needs) saving bandwidth and production efforts. These scenarios are enabled by the so called renderer whose purpose is to convert a set of audio signals with associated metadata to a different configuration of audio signals (e.g., speaker feeds) based on the metadata and control inputs from the playback environment and user?s preference. The approach of defining a specific renderer with its own metadata is extremely viable in clearly defined vertical businesses such as cinema, packaged media, etc., but for broadcast, which is by its nature a transversal business, this is definitely not the case so standards that describe the metadata and the behaviour of the renderer become beneficial. The ADM (Audio Definition Model) standard defined in ITU-R BS.2076-1 is particularly relevant in this context to ensure interoperability and reproducibility along the chain. The aim of this paper is to describe ADM based use-cases and workflows and the efforts ongoing to promote a wide adoption and integration of the ADM.?

David Marston | British Broadcasting Corporation | London & Salford, United Kingdom
Thomas Nixon | British Broadcasting Corporation | London & Salford, United Kingdom
Chris Pike | British Broadcasting Corporation | London & Salford, United Kingdom
Matthieu Parmentier | France T?l?visions | Paris, France
Paola Sunna | European Broadcasting Union | Geneva, Switzerland
Michael Weitnauer | Institut f?r Rundfunktechnik GmbH | M?nich, Germany
Benjamin Weiss | Institut f?r Rundfunktechnik GmbH | M?nich, Germany