Immersive Surround Sound System Launched by Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology
Developed by a team at the Fraunhofer IDMT (which is part of Europe's largest applied research group) under the lead of Brandenburg, Dr. Thomas Sporer and Dr. Sandra Brix, IOSONO is the first system to project sounds as if they are coming from a specific spot inside or outside the listening area. It provides a perfectly balanced "sweet spot" for every spectator, no matter where they are positioned in the audience. IOSONO was introduced at postproduction sound icon Todd-AO, at an event hosted by the Entertainment Technology Center at the University of South California (ETC-USC). IOSONO applies Wave Field Synthesis (WFS), as originally invented by Delft Technical University, and several newly patented hardware and software technologies. It was designed for application in cinemas, theme parks, music and entertainment venues and home theatres. "The enhancement from 5.1 to IOSONO can be compared to the step from Mono to Stereo. Due to the groundbreaking object-oriented approach of IOSONO, it enables the sound engineers to create sound events anywhere in the room", Brandenburg describes the major ad-vance of the innovative system. , ,IOSONO Sound Transforms Audience Experience,IOSONO produces a virtual sound cape of unequalled fidelity by projecting pinpoints and planes of sounds. The pinpoints can seem as if coming from the sky above, inches from the listener's ears, or any position in space; the walls can, among other applications, simulate the ambient sound sense of another place. Filmmakers, artists, entertainers and audio professionals will be able to direct a cymbal to thun-derclap miles away, a wagon train to encircle the audience, or an alien to crash through the wall. In addition, filmmakers can choose to make sounds move from left to right with the action on the screen. IOSONO recreates natural sound waves using WFS, as opposed to other solutions that employ amplification. The IOSONO system is com-prised of the Spatial Audio Workstation, which is used to create the IOSONO "soundtrack"; an IOSONO server, installed in each venue to configure an IOSONO produced sound experience to the specific environment; and a 360° ring of speakers, hung in a specially phased, calibrated fashion. The IOSONO system complements existing audio postproduction practices by working with sound files generated by standard mixing software such as ProTools®.About Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology IDMT:,The "Fraunhofer Gesellschaft" is Europe's largest applied research group, comprised of over 10,000 engineers and scientists working on 60 campuses in Germany, the US, and Asia. The main objective of the Fraunhofer IDMT is the development of new media technologies for professional markets as well as for the home entertainment sector. Other activities range from audio-metadata technologies to audio applications like medical audio technology, cod-ing for special applications or secure business models for the digital distribution of virtual goods via Internet. The Institute is headed by Prof. Dr. Karlheinz Brandenburg who has repeatedly been honored by the AES and IEEE for his continued contributions and leadership to the art and science of perceptual audio coding. Brandenburg has been granted 25 patents, has several others pending, and is Fellow of the Audio Engineering Society (AES). , ,About the Entertainment Technology Center at USC:,Founded in 1993, the Center at University of Southern California is a stand-alone, neutral research organization devoted to identifying pivotal, emerging entertainment technologies and creating programs to analyze and test them.
Countries
Germany, United States