StreamingCodecStudyReport

ForNPRDigitalMedia

JohnKean
EllynG.Sheffield,PhD

NPRLabs
September20,2013

2013NationalPublicRadio,Inc.

CONTENTS
IntroductionandExecutiveSummary............................................................................................................4
CodecChoiceandOptimalBitRates.........................................................................................................................4
LoudnessManagementWithinandBetweenStreams.............................................................................................6
EncodingComputer...................................................................................................................................................8
AudioQualityTests.........................................................................................................................................9
SelectionofCodecsbyWellInformedListeners.......................................................................................................9
AudioCodecsforTest............................................................................................................................................9
Participantsandmethodology.............................................................................................................................11
SoundSampleMaterialandPreparation.............................................................................................................12
PlaybackConditions.............................................................................................................................................12
Results.................................................................................................................................................................12
AudioQualityofCodecsConsumerTest1............................................................................................................15
AudioCodecsUnderTest....................................................................................................................................15
ParticipantsandMethodology............................................................................................................................16
Results.................................................................................................................................................................16
LoudnessConsumerTest2....................................................................................................................................21
Methodology.......................................................................................................................................................21
SamplePreparation.............................................................................................................................................21
WithinStreamResults.........................................................................................................................................22
BetweenStreamResults.....................................................................................................................................24
TechnicalRecommendations........................................................................................................................29
CodecSelectionandBitRate...................................................................................................................................29
CodecCompatibilityandLicensing..........................................................................................................................30
StreamingRequirements.........................................................................................................................................32
WirelessNetworks...............................................................................................................................................32
Codecandbitrates..................................................................................................................................................35

LoudnessConsistency...................................................................................................................................36
CurrentExperience..................................................................................................................................................36
LoudnessControlandManagement.......................................................................................................................38
ProgramLevelMeasurement..............................................................................................................................38
LoudnessValuesShouldbetheTarget,NotPeakLevels.....................................................................................39
LoudnessMonitoringandNormalizationofStreams..........................................................................................41
BatchNormalizationofAudioLoudnessforFilesandPodcasts..........................................................................45
LoudnessLevelsRelativeToOtherInternetStreams..........................................................................................45
StreamServer...............................................................................................................................................47
PresentAudioCard..................................................................................................................................................47
PatchmixDSPConfiguration....................................................................................................................................49
TritonDigitalAdInsertionSoftware........................................................................................................................50
AudioCardReplacements.......................................................................................................................................51
CautionsfortheSoftwareEncoder.........................................................................................................................51
Acknowledgements......................................................................................................................................52

STREAMINGCODECSTUDYREPORTFORNPRDIGITALMEDIA
INTRODUCTIONANDEXECUTIVESUMMARY
ThisreportpresentstheresultsofresearchandtestinginsupportofanewInternetaudiostreamingsystemtobe
launchedbyNPRDigitalMedia,withafocusondeliveryovermobilewirelessnetworkstosmartphoneandtablet
devicesusingacustomplayerapplication.Theobjectiveofthisstudywastoidentifythebestdigitalaudiocodec
andstreamingrate.Additionally,weexploredtheeffectsofaudiolevelshiftsonconsumerspreferencesand
behavioranddevelopedasolutiontoloudnessmanagementforplaybackinavarietyoflisteningconditions.
Thissectionprovidesanexecutivesummaryofthekeyfindingsandtechnicalrecommendations.Theappendices
discussimplementation,aswellasexplanationsoftheresearchandmethodology.

CODECCHOICEANDOPTIMALBITRATES
Digitalaudiocodecsaretheheartofapracticalstreamingsystem.TheymakeInternetstreamingcommercially
feasiblebyvastlyreducingthebitraterequiredoftheaudiodatawithoutnoticeablyreducingtheaudioquality.
Withoutthem,streamingwouldrequiretoomuchdatabandwidthtobeaffordable.
Codecsvaryintheirabilitytomaintainsoundqualityatlowerbitrates.Theolderones,suchasthefamiliarMP3
format,arethepoorestathidingaudibleartifactsthatresultasthebitratesarereduced.Throughcontinual
researchanddevelopment,digitalcompressiontechniqueshavecontinuedtoevolve,leadingtonewcodecsthat
providehighsoundfidelityateverlowerbitrates.
Besidessavingontransmissionexpensesrelatedtothedatabandwidth,minimizingthebitratehasdirectbenefits
forthelisteners,becauselowerstreambitrates:

Startfasterwhenastreamisselected,muchlikearadioplaysassoonastunedintoastation;
Experiencemarkedlyhigherreliability(fewerdropouts)inmobilewirelessnetworks,and
Restartaudiofasterafteradropoutoccurs
Savepotentialdatachargesforthelistener.

Thisstudyincludedrealtimefieldmeasurementsofwirelessmobilenetworks(seeStreaming
Requirements/WirelessNetworksintheAppendix),whichexplainsthatasthebitraterises,ariseinthefrequency
anddurationofdatainterruptions(dropouts)occur.Infact,datashowtheamountofinterruptionrisessteadily
atratesaboveapproximately32kbps,whereas,atlesserrates,outagestendtobecausedbyweakcellularsignals.
Notsurprisingly,testingintheWashington,DCareaalsoshowedthatstreamreliabilitywasworstduringmorning
andeveningdrivetimethepeaklisteningtimesformostpublicradioprogramming.
Therearenumerouscodecsavailableforusebyportabledevicesandcomputers.Wetestedsixoftheleading
codecswithexpertlistenersoverawiderangeofbitrates(seetheappendixforSelectionofCodecsbyWell
InformedListenersfordetails).

5
MeanOpinionScore

AfteridentifyingtheHighEfficiencyAAC(HEAAC)
codecasthetopperformingcodec,consumerswere
testedtosubstantiatetheexpertlisteners
recommendations(seetheappendixAudioQuality
ofCodecsConsumerTestfordetails).Figure1
showshowconsumersratedtheHEAACcodec,
showninred,onaverticalscaleofMeanOpinion
Scorerangingfrom1(worst)to5(best)forthe
musicgenre.Noticethatthereisrelativelylittle
differencebetweentheoverall(encoded/decoded)
qualityandtheoriginalreferenceaudio,shownto
thefarrightinlightblue.Overarangeofbitrates
suitableformobilestreaming,ourtestdataand
industryresearchshowgoodagreementbetween
thelistenerscoreswithmusicandspeechprograms.

4
MP3

HEACC
xHEAAC

AACLC
Reference

1
16 24 32 48 64 96 128
TestedRates(kbps)

Figure1 ConsumersMeanOpinionScoresforHEAACandxHEAAC
codecswithmusicatbitratesfrom16to128kbps

Recommendation1:Ofthecodecscurrentlyavailable,thestandout,overall,isHighEfficiencyAdvancedAudio
Coding(HEAAC),alsoknownasaacPlusandAAC+,forstreaming.Thiscodec,hereinreferredtoas
HEAAC,ispreferredforthefollowingreasons:

ProvidesthesoundqualityofMP3codingatlessthanhalfthebitrate;
CommonlyavailableinAppleiOS(allversions)andrecentAndroidoperatingsystems;
Licensingfeespaidbyendproductmanufacturers,andnofeetoprogramoriginators;
Supportformetadatatransportforloudnessnormalizationandancillarydatafunctions.

Asdiscussedfullyintheappendix,theoptimalbitratemustconsidervariousaspectsofthelistenersexperience,
whichmustbalancesoundqualityathigherbitratesandstreamingreliabilityatlowerbitrates.Inourview,this
balanceisbestmetwiththefollowingconsiderations:

ForbothmusicandspeechstreamedwiththeHEAACcodec,theoptimalcodecandbitrateis48kbps;
Fornonrealtimeplayback,suchaspodcasts,theoptimalbitrateformusicandspeechwiththe
HEAACcodecis64kbps;1
Higherbitratesareunnecessaryaslistenersheardminimal,ifany,improvement.
Updatetheencoderasnewversionsarereleased(updatesusuallyontheencodingside,wherethe
heavierdataprocessingoccurs).Streamingsoftwareshouldalsobedesignedtosupportthefuture
replacementwithasuperiorcodec.

Thereasonthatahigherbitratemaybeusedforpodcastsisthatthesearefiletransferstotheplayer,which
bridgeinterruptionsintheflowofdataovertheInternet.Filetransfersmaybeburstyandinterrupted,butthese
effectsareunnoticeableduringfileplayback.Livestreamsuserelativelysmalldatabufferstopermitfaster
startupandrecoveryfromdropouts,buttheyrequireamoreconstantflowofdata.
5

TheHEAACcodecisuniversallyavailableinportabledevicesoperatingiOSandmostdevicesrunningtheAndroid
OS(sinceversion3.1).ThereareearlierAndroiddevicesthatmaynothaveHEAAConboard,however,asthese
devicesaretypicallymorethantwoyearsoldandthismarketsharecontinuestodeclineasconsumersreplace
theirdeviceswithnewermodelsthatsupportHEAACaudio.

LOUDNESSMANAGEMENTWITHINANDBETWEENSTREAMS
Uniformityofperceptualloudnessisanimportantconsiderationforthelisteningexperience.Asdiscussedindetail
inLoudnessConsistency/CurrentExperience,theuniformityofpublicradiostreamsisquitepoorintermsof
loudness,audiobandwidthandlevelsofdigitalcompressionartifacts.Thechartbelowshowsaseriesofaudio
samplesfrom49publicradiostations,allcarryingthesamenewsprogramfromNPR.Theverticalpositionofthe
dotmeasuresthesubjectiveloudnessonadecibel(dB)scaleadesirablerangeis3dB.Inthistest,however,
streamsarevaryingovermorethana15dBrangeinaudiotransmissionlevel.

Loudness(dBr)

25
20
15
10
5
0
0

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

Figure2Audioloudness(relativedBscale)of49publicradiostationstreamscarryingWeekendEditionSaturday

Thisprojectincludedasystematicstudywithconsumerstodeterminetheirreactiontochangesinloudness,as
reportedinLoudnessConsumerTest2.Forcasessuchasstreamtostreamswitching,orhearingone
announcementatonelevelfollowedbyanotherannouncementatadifferentlevel,wemeasuredtheamountof
changeinaudiolevelthatisannoyingtolisteners.Findingsindicatethattheirregularityofaudiolevelsbetween
individualpublicradiostreamstodayoftenexceedthetoleranceoflisteners.Toensureapleasantlistener
experience,thetransmissionlevelofeachstreamshouldbenormalized,basedonitslongtermloudness,as
measuredbytheITUstandardloudnessmeter.
Asidefromstreamtostreamvariation,theeffectofloudnessvariationwithinastreamisimportantforlistener
satisfaction,dependingonexternalenvironmentalfactors.Forexample,listenersonanoisysubwayneedtighter
controlofspeechormusicdynamicrangetohearprogrammingclearly,butinbetterlisteningconditions,the
naturaldynamicsofhumanspeechoramusicalperformancecanaddtotheexperienceandenjoymentof
listeners.2

Asanexperiment,westreamedanews/informationandaclassicalmusicstationforseveralweekseachwitha
directconnectiontotheconsoleoutput,thatis,noaudioprocessing.Listenerreportswereuniversallyfavorable.
6

However,loudnessvariationshouldnotbesolvedbymorecompressionofdynamicrange.Weevaluatedthe
dynamicrangeofmanypublicradiostreamsandfoundthatmanyuseaggressivecompressionandlimiting,even
withfineartsprogramming.Thismaybesuitableforbroadcasttransmissionswhicharesubjecttosignalnoise
andinterference,andwhichmustconformtotightmodulationlimits.However,audioprocessingisnotrequired
toprotectInternetaudiostreams:itisadigitalaudiotransmissionsystemcapableofmorethan90dBofdynamic
range,whichdoesnotrequiredynamicrangecompressionperse.Reductioninthedynamicrangeisusefulfor
noisierlisteningenvironments,orsimplytocomplywiththelistenerstaste.However,itispreferabletoputthis
choiceunderthecontrolofthelistener,ratherthanarestrictionthatisuniversallyappliedtoalllisteners.
Werecommendabreakfromthetraditionofdynamic
compressionatthetransmissionend,whichforcesa
onesizefitsalltreatmenttoaudio.Figure3illustrates
howactiveloudnessmanagementcanbeappliedatthe
player.Thethumbnailpictureontheleftshowssamples
from11publicradiostreams(20to30secondseach)as
theywerereceivedonaniPhone4S.Considerable
variationinlevelisevidentintheheightsofthestreams

asmuchas15dBbetweenadjacentstreams.Thepicture
totherightshowsthesamestreamsafteractivating
Figure3Elevenpublicradiostreamsasreceived(left)and
afterprocessinginaniPhoneloudnesscontrolapp(right)
activeloudnessmanagementsoftwarethatwasaddedto
theiPhone.Thesoftwarewaseffectiveatraisingthelow
levelstreamsandbringingdowntheleveloftheloudstreams.Theaudibleeffectwasamorepleasantevennessin
soundacrossthegroup,whileeachsampleremainedfairlytruetoitsoriginalform.3
Takingacuefromindustryworkonloudnessmanagementforhighdefinitiontelevision,werecommendthe
following:

Adoptloudnessmeteringforproduction,setupandstreammonitoring.Measuretherealtime
loudnessanddynamicrangeofprogramswithITURBS.17702metering(seeAppendixfordetails)to
ensurelevelssoundmoreconsistentacrossstreamsandfromprogramtoprogram.
Peakmeteringshouldbereliedupononlytoensurethatoverloadisnotoccurring,notforevaluating
loudnessconsistencyofproductionandaudiostreams.AsdemonstratedintheAppendix,peak
measurementdoesnotcorrelatewellwithsubjectiveloudness.
Discontinuepeaknormalizationofaudiofilesinproduction.Thiseffortshouldbereplacedbyloudness
normalization,eithermanuallyorautomatically,plusactiveloudnessmanagementintheplayer.
Discontinueaggressivecompressionofaudiodynamicsbeforestreamtransmission.Withloudness
measurementoflevelsinproduction,loudnessmanagementcanbeaccomplishedwithlessdynamic
compression(or,eventually,attheplayer,whichalsohelpsensurethatstreamswillsoundbetterand
moreuniformtothelisteners).

Thiswasaratherextremeexample,aswewouldnotexpecttousethismuchcontrolforstreamsthatare
transmittedneartheproperlevel.
7

Shiftactiveloudnessmanagementtothestreamplayer,usingcustomsoftware.Thiscanresolvethe
problemofaudiocontrol,bothwithintheprogramandfromstreamtostream.SmartphonesandPCsare
capableofcontrollingtheaudioloudnessrange,andsomemusicplayerappsforsmartphonesalready
dothis.Streamplayerloudnessmanagementwouldputthecontrolinthehandsofthelistener,
accordingtheirneedsandtastes.(Thiswouldrequiretransmissionofaudiowithoutaddition
compressionatthestreamencoding,onlyloudnessnormalizationprogrammaterialtoensure
consistency.Theissuewiththisisuseofrandom,unassociatedplayerslackingtheloudness
management:theywouldplaythestreams,justwithouttheloudnessmanagementfeatureavailablein
plannedplayers.Thiswouldnotaffectmanymobiledevices,however,whichuseaplayersuppliedby
publicradiosources.)

Measurementandcontrolofaudiotransmissionlevelsforpublicradiostreamingisarguablyabiggerchallenge
thanselectingthecodecandbitrate.Fortunately,wenowhavethetechnologytomanageloudnesseffectively,
andcomfortably,foreverylistener.

ENCODINGCOMPUTER
AsdiscussedintheAppendix,NPRDigitalMediaissupplyingaservercomputertostationsforstreamencoding,
alongwithanaudiointerfaceandsoftware.ACreativemodelEMU0404audiocardwasselectedforthe
computer,aconsumerproductwithhighquality,butinputsthatarenotcompatiblewithmoststationsanalogor
digitalaudioplants.Tominimizeinstallationandoperationalissues,NPRLabsdevelopedacustomaudiointerface
boxthatensuresfullcompatibilityandsimplesetup.Theinterfacesupportsbothanaloganddigitalaudioandhas
beentestedinalivestreamforseveralweeksattwomemberstations.
TheEMU0404audiocardisdiscontinuedandthereisnodirectreplacementfromCreative.Werecommenda
studytoidentifyasuitablereplacement.ThisshouldconsiderUSBconnectedaudiointerfaces,whichare
becomingcommoninaudiosystems.

Appendices
AUDIOQUALITYTESTS
Thisappendixdetailsthreetestsconductedoverthespringandsummerof2012.Thefirst,SelectionofCodecsby
WellInformedListenerswasconductedatNPRandatthePublicRadioEngineeringConferenceinLasVegas.The
secondandthird:AudioQualityofCodecsConsumerTest1,andLoudnessConsumerTest2,wereconductedat
TowsonUniversity,nearBaltimore,withindividualsfromTowsonandthenearbycommunity.

SELECTIONOFCODECSBYWELLINFORMEDLISTENERS
Thepurposeofthispretestwasto(a)criticallyevaluateseveralcodecsthatarecurrentlybeingusedorpotential
contendersfortransmissionovertheInternet,and(b)identifytwocodecsthatwouldbepresentedtoconsumers
inafinalroundofaudioqualitytesting.

AUDIOCODECSFORTEST
Thecodecsforthistestwerechosentorepresentsomeofthemostpopularavailable,aswellasthenewest(and
arguably,best).Thechoicesarelistedinthetablebelow,alongwithinformationontherelevantstandards,if
applicable,theirhistoryandlicensingrequirements.

Codec
LAME

SourceInformation
lame.sourceforge.net

Description
AfreesoftwarecodeccompatiblewithMP3playback.
Althoughawidelyavailable,itincludestechnologycoveredby
otherpatentholders.LAMEsdevelopersconsiderit
educationalsoftwarethat,assuch,doesnotinfringepatents.
Commercialusemayrequirelicensefees.

MPEG2Layer
III(MP3)

AACLow
Complexity
(AACLC)

ISO/IEC111723(1993)
ISO/IEC138183(1995)

http://www.iis.fraunhofer.de/en/b
f/amm/produkte/audiocodec/audi
ocodecs/mp3.html

Awidelyusedcodecusedforconsumeraudiostorageand
transmissionencodingandplayback.Itisincludedinthe
firmwareofmostdigitalaudioplayers.

ISO/IEC138187(1997)
ISO/IEC144963(2001)

AdvancedAudioCodingwasdesignedasthesuccessortothe
MP3format,achievingbettersoundqualityatsimilarbit
rates.Itwasoriginallydevelopedinthemid1990sand
becameanMPEG2standardin1994.TheLowComplexity
(LC)profileisintendedforconsumerapplications:because
ofApplesuseiniTunes,itisinallAppleoperatingsystemsfor
iPhone,iPodandiPaddevice.Itbecamearegularpartofthe
Androidoperatingsystembeginningwithv3.1
(http://developer.android.com/guide/appendix/media

http://www.iis.fraunhofer.de/en/b
f/amm/produkte/audiocodec/audi
ocodecs/aaclc.html

Withsomeexceptions,thesoftwareissubjecttoroyalty
paymentsforuseinbroadcast,streamingandphysical
storage(seemp3licensing.com).

formats.html).BasedonEBUtesting(EBUTech3324,Sept.
2007),thiscodecprovidesgoodtoexcellentqualityat
128kbps.ThroughitsstandardizationinMPEG4theAAC
familyofcodecoftenappearswiththatidentification.
ThelicensingmodelfortheAACfamilyofcodecsputsafeeon
manufacturersordevelopersofenduserproducts,rather
thanusetobroadcastorstream(www.vialicensing.com).
High
EfficiencyAAC
(HEAAC)

ISO/IEC144963:2009
http://www.iis.fraunhofer.de/en/b
f/amm/produkte/audiocodec/audi
ocodecs/heaac.html

TheadditionofSpectralBandReplication(SBR)toAACLC
resultsintheHighEfficiencyAACprofile(HEAACor
aacPlus).WithHEAAC,thelowerpartoftheaudio
spectrumincodedwithAACLC,whileSBRencodesaguided
recreationtheupperfrequencyspectrum.HEAACoffersan
efficiencyimprovementofupto30%comparedtoAACLC.
Atbitratesof24to32kbps,HEAACautomaticallyadds
ParametricStereoprocessing,whichextractspositional
informationfromthestereosignalalongwithamonodown
mix,toachieveareconstructionofthedecodedsignalwith
thestereoimage.Thisachievesamoreefficienttransmission
thantwochannelHEAACwithsimilaroverallscoresfor
quality.WhenSBRaloneisemployed,itisreferredtoas
HEAACv1;whenParametricStereoisadded,itisreferred
toasHEAACv2oraacPlusv2.TheversionofHEAACin
ourtestingcanbedeterminedbythebitrateemployedfor
eachtest.

G.722.2
(AMRWB+)

ITUTG.722.2

Extended
HEAAC
(xHEAAC)

ISO/IECDIS230033
MPEGDPart3
ISO/IEC230033:2012

http://www.itu.int/rec/TREC
G.722.2/recommendation.asp?lan
g=en&parent=TRECG.722.2
200307I

http://www.iis.fraunhofer.de/cont
ent/dam/iis/en/dokumente/pr/20
08/voiceage_iis_engl.pdf

AdaptiveMultiRateWideband(AMRWB)iscodifiedin
G.722.2asanITUTstandardspeechcodec,orvocoder.A
standardformobilephones,AMRWBisintendedtoprovide
acceptablespeechqualityatverylowbitratesand
multimediasupportatmoderatebitrates.VoiceAge
Corporation,adeveloperandlicensorofdigitalspeechand
audiocompressiontechnologyforcommunications
applications,developedahifispeechandaudiocodec
versionofthecodecforbothspeechandmusic,AMRWB+,
makingitacandidatefortesting.
UnifiedSpeechandAudioCodingbeganascollaboration
betweenFraunhoferIISandVoiceAgeandcombinesthe
technologyofbothcompaniestofurtherperformanceand
efficiencyofthelossycompression,usingtimedomain
vocodingtoolsforspeechsegmentsaswellastransform
codingmethodsforgeneralaudio.Itisabletoblendbetween
thetechniquesdynamicallyinresponsetotheprogramsignal.
Aparametricstereooptionmayfurtherincreasecoding
efficiency.ThefinalstandardwasdevelopedbytheMPEG
audiosubgroupasanMPEG4audioobjecttype.xHEAACis
theMPEG"profile"whichencompassesHEAACv2aswellas
additionaltechnologywiththename"UnifiedSpeechand
AudioCoding"

10

Othercodecswereconsideredfortheexpertlistenertesting.However,therequirementthattheybeavailablein
theAndroidandiOSoperatingsystems,andavarietyconsumerproducts,limitedthefieldofcandidates.This
requirementwasoverlookedforAMRWB+andxHEAACcodecsbecauseoftheirstandardization,whichcanhelp
futureadoptioninconsumerdevices.4xHEAACcombinestheadvantagesofspeechandaudiocodecs,which
makesitpossibletooutperformeithercodingapproachalone.Thiswouldbeanothercodectoconsiderforfuture
implementation.Indeed,theperformanceofxHEAAC,describedelsewhereinthissection,suggestsittobea
futureupgradeforNPR,onceitbecomescommonlyavailableinproductsorifnolicensingfeeisinvolvedto
bundleitinaplayer.

PARTICIPANTSANDMETHODOLOGY
Elevenlisteners(4femalesand7males),allNPRstafforassociatedwithNPRaffiliates,listenedtoaudiosamples
trialbytrialtorankordertheaudiooutputofthecodecs.Listenerswerenottakenfromthegeneralpublicfor
thiseffort.Theywereallwellacquaintedwithcodecsandtheartifactsthatcodecscreate.Withinonetrial(e.g.,a
femalespeechsample)participantslistenedtothesamesampleproducedbysixcodecsatthesamebitrate,side
byside,allowingthemtocomparesmalldifferencesandrankorderthecodecsona0100scale.Figure4depicts
thescreentoenterdataforonetrial.Participantsweredirectedtoslidethenoteonthebarupanddownuntil
theyweresatisfiedthattheyhadrankorderedthesixcodecs.Participantswereencouragedtogiveeachcodeca
uniquenumber,eventhoughtheymayhavefelttwocodecswereequivalent.This,forexample,resultedin
participantsoccasionallygivingonecodeca23andanothercodeca24.

Figure4SnapshotofRankOrderScreen

Foreachnewtrial,listenersheardrandomlyorderedsamples,suchthatdifferentcodecswereplacedondifferent
sliderbars.Selectionsincludedfemaleandmalespeech,orchestra,singleinstrument,multiplevoicesand
voiceover(i.e.,commercials).ThecodecsdescribedaboveweretestedattheMPEGstandardbitratesof16,32,

USACandxHEAACcodectechnologiesweredevelopedjointlybyalargenumberofcompaniesandinstitutes,
includingVoiceAge,Sony,Panasonic,Samsung,Philips,Dolby,NTTDocomo.AlthoughFraunhoferandVoiceAge
mayclaimtohavecontributedthelargestpartofthetechnology,othershavecontributedsignificantly.
11

48,64and96kbps.Whiletestscouldbeconductedatotherbitrates(toprovideamoreuniformdistributionof
rates)somecodecsareoptimizedfortheMPEGrates.Theselectedratesavoidedthepossibilityofuneventest
results.

SOUNDSAMPLEMATERIALANDPREPARATION
Audiomaterialwasselectedfromavarietyofsourcesrepresentingmaleandfemalespeech,speechoveramusic
bed(voiceover),singing,individualinstrumentsandorchestralmusic.Allmaterialwasproducedfrom
uncompressedPCMfileswithasamplerateof44.1kHzin16bitintegerformat.(Someaudiowascollectedas
48kHzrecordings,whichwereconvertedto44.1kHzusingAudacity2.0rateconverterinthehighqualitymode.)
AllofthetestmaterialheardwasplayedbackasaWAVfile.Thisrequiredeachaudiosampletobeencodedand
decoded(transcoded)backtoaWAVfileforeachcodectype.TheLAMEsampleswereencodedanddecodedin
Reaperv4.26usingtheversion3.98codec.TheAMRWB+transcodingwasaccomplishedwiththeVoiceAge
EvaluationExecutable(http://www.voiceage.com/amrwbplus_eval.php),aWindowssoftwaretoolthatproduces
theoutputWAVfileinonestep.TheMP3,AAC(includingHEAAC),andxHEAACfileswerefurnishedtothe
FraunhoferInstitutefortranscoding.
Toensurethatthelistenersscoreswerenotbiasedbydifferencesinloudness,theaudiolevelofthesampleswere
measuredusingtheOrbanLoudnessMetersoftware,v2.0.3(downloadedfromhttp://orban.com/meter/).Before
transcoding,theaudiogainofeachWAVfilewastrimmedinAudacity2.0toapproximately23dBLUFS,according
totheIntegratedindicatorofthesoftwaretoolsITURBS.17702loudnessmeter.(TheEBUR128termLUFS,for
LoudnessUnits,relativetodigitalFullScale,isusedherein,andisequivalenttotheITUtermLKFS.)

PLAYBACKCONDITIONS
TheexpertlistenertestwasconductedwithSennheiserHD
600headphones,connectedtoaTascamUS144MKIIaudio
interface,providingtheaudioconnectionfromthetest
computer.Approximatelyhalfthetestsubjectslistenedin
NPRStudio5A,whichprovidedaveryquietenvironment.
Theremainderofthelistenersvolunteeredduringthe2012
PublicRadioEngineeringConferenceinLasVegas,andtests
wereconductedinaquiethotelroomusingthesame
headphonesandheadphonedriver.Aphotoofthehotel
listeningroomsetupisshowninFigure5.Listeners
operatedtheircodectestthroughEPrime,aPCprogram
toautomatetheplaybackofcodecaudiotestsamplesand
collectthelistenersresponses.

Figure5 Participantbeingsetupforexpertlistenertest

RESULTS
AscanbeseenfromFigure6,whenallgenreswerecombined,listenersfeltthatthreecodecscodecsperformed
betterthanothersat32,48and64kbps:HEAACV2,xHEAAC,andAMRWB+.AlthoughLAME,FraunhoferMP3

12

andAACLCweresatisfactoryat96kbps,theyweresignificantlyloweratallotherbitrates,renderingthem
unacceptableascandidatechoicesfortheconsumertest.
Figure6throughFigure11showresultsbygenre.Noticethatinspeech,AMRWB+fallsoffprecipitouslyat
64kbps,highlightingitsintendeduseforlowerbitrates.Withregardtomusic(i.e.,orchestral,choralandsingle
instruments)xHEAACandHEAACareconsistentlyhigher,withlistenersrankingthemassatisfactorystartingat
32kbps.(ThedataforHEAACexcludes64and96kbpsassomeofthataudiomaterialwaslaterfoundtohave
beeninadvertentlyimpairedinpreparationfortesting.However,testsconductedbyotherssuggestthatthe
resultsforHEAACwouldhavebeensimilartoAACLCat96kbps.)
Interestingly,resultswerequiteflatstartingat32kbps,suggestingthatlistenersdidnothearmarked
improvementsathigherbitrates.Giventheseresults,theaudioqualityconsumertestincludedxHEAACand
HEAACasthecodecsofinterest.
100
90
80

AACLC

70
60

AMRWB+

50

HEAAC

40

LAMEMP3

30

MP3

20

xHEAAC

10
0
16kbps

24kbps

32kbps

48kbps

64kbps

96kbps

Figure6ExpertlistenerscoresforALLGENREScombined

100
90
80

AACLC

70
60

AMRWB+

50

HEAAC

40

LAMEMP3

30

MP3

20

xHEAAC

10
0
16kbps

24kbps

32kbps

48kbps

64kbps

96kbps

Figure7ExpertlistenerscoresforSPEECHgenre

13

100
90
80

AACLC

70
60

AMRWB+

50

HEAAC

40

LAMEMP3

30

MP3

20

xHEAAC

10
0
16kbps

24kbps

32kbps

48kbps

64kbps

96kbps

Figure8ExpertlistenerscoresforORCHESTRALgenre

100
90
80

AACLC

70
60

AMRWB+

50

HEAAC

40

LAMEMP3

30

MP3

20

xHEAAC

10
0
16kbps

24kbps

32kbps

48kbps

64kbps

96kbps

Figure9ExpertlistenerscoresforSINGLEINSTRUMENTgenre

100
90
80

AACLC

70
60

AMRWB+

50

HEAAC

40

LAMEMP3

30

MP3

20

xHEAAC

10
0
16kbps

24kbps

32kbps

48kbps

64kbps

96kbps

Figure10ExpertlistenerscoresforVOICEOVERgenre

14

100
90
80

AACLC

70
60

AMRWB+

50

HEAAC

40

LAMEMP3

30

MP3

20

xHEAAC

10
0
16kbps

24kbps

32kbps

48kbps

64kbps

96kbps

Figure11ExpertlistenerscoresforCHORALMULTIPLEVOICESgenre

AUDIOQUALITYOFCODECSCONSUMERTEST1
Thepurposeofthistestwastodeterminehowconsumerswouldrespondtoaudiotransmittedatdifferentbit
ratesusingourselectedcodecsHEAACandxHEAACandwhethertheywouldcontinuetolistentothe
transmissionasthebitratedecreased.ConsumersheardHEAACandxHEAACsamplescodedat16,24,32,48,
64and96kbps,andheardsamplescodedwithMP3at16,24kbps(lowanchors)and128kbps(frequentlyusedin
streaming),plusAACLCat128kbpsandanunprocessedsample,knownasthereference.Theconsumertest
alsopresentedthematerialunderconditionsclosertothatofaveragelisteners:thelistenersusedAppleearbuds,
ratherthanhighendheadphones,andaPolkiSonictableradio.Also,thelisteningroomwasasmallinterior
officewithamoderatelevelofairhandlingnoise.Thesetestsweredesignedtodeterminethebitrateparameters
foranInternetaudiosystem,lessonethatisindistinguishablefromthesourceunderthemostdiscerningof
conditionsthanonethatiscapableofdeliveringaqualityexperienceforalllisteners.Webelievethetwotests
informthatdetermination.

AUDIOCODECSUNDERTEST
ThehighscoresoftheHEAACandxHEAACcodecswereprimaryconsiderationsforthetest.TheAMRWB+codec
performedwell,too,butitisnotcommontotheoperatingsystemsincurrentsmartphonesandpersonal
computers.ThesamecouldbesaidforthexHEAAC,butwefeelthiscodecisonthebesttrackforfutureadoption
bysmartphonemanufacturers.(ItalsohappenstobebasedonajointdevelopmentofFraunhoferInstituteand
VoiceAgeCorporation,thecompaniesthatwereactiveinthedevelopmentoftheHEAACandAMRWB+codecs,
respectively.)TheMP3codecwasincludedto(1)provideacomparisontoacodecandbitratefrequentlyusedin
Internetstreaming(MP3at128kbps),and(2)byoperatingatalowbitprovidealowreferenceforthetests.The
audiomaterialforallthreecodecswaspreparedinthesamemannerdescribedfortheexpertlistenertestsand
wastranscodedatFraunhoferInstitute.

15

PARTICIPANTSANDMETHODOLOGY
FortyparticipantswererecruitedfromTowsonUniversitystaffandadministrationviatheuniversitysDaily
Digestannouncementforum.Seebelowfordemographicdetails.
AgeGroup
1830
3040
4050
5065

Female
5
5
5
5

Male
5
5
5
5

Participantslistenedtoatotalof250speechandmusicaudiosamples,onebyone.Aftereachsample,participants
wereaskedtoanswer3questions:(a)onascaleof15(bad,poor,fair,good,excellent),ratetheaudioqualityfor
thesample;(b)onayes/nobasis,wereyousatisfiedwiththeaudioquality;and(c)wouldyoukeeplisteningtothe
radioorturnitoff,giventheaudioqualityofthesample.Intwosessions,participantslistenedoverloudspeakers
andearbuds.Sessionswerecounterbalancedsuchthat20peoplewereassignedtolisteningwithspeakersfirst
and20peoplewereassignedtolisteningwithearbudsfirst.Participantswereencouragedtoadjustthevolumeto
acomfortablesettingbeforebeginningthesession,afterwhichthevolumeremainedconstant.

RESULTS
DATANORMALIZATION:
Withineachgenre,uniqueaudioselectionswerepresentedforlisteningatdifferentbitrates.Thismethodology
wasspecificallyconstructedinordertominimizetheeffectoflistenersbecomingoverlyfatiguedbyhearingthe
sameselectiontoomanytimes.However,foreachaudiosample,anonprocessedreferencewasalsoincludedfor
listenerstorate.Inordertoensurethattheaudiocontentforeachselectionwasnotundulyinfluencingpeoples
ratings(MeanOpinionScoreandOn/Offdecision),scoreswerenormalizedtotheircorrespondingreferences.For
example,iftheMOSforaparticularreferencesamplewas4.5,scoresforcodecswerecalculatedinrelationtothe
4.5;ifthenextreferencesamplewas4.2,thosescoreswerecalculatedinrelationto4.2.
ANALYSISOFGENDERANDAGE
A2(Gender:male,female)x4(Agegroup:1829;3039;4049;5065)AnalysisofVariance(ANOVA)was
conductedtoexplorewhethermenandwomendifferentlyansweredwhethertheywouldleavetheradioon,
giventhequalityoftheaudio.Therewasamaineffectofage,F(3,10920)=8.14,p<.01,showingthat1829year
oldlistenersingeneralweremoremotivatedtoleavetheradioon,particularlyathigherbitrates.Therewasno
substantialdifferencebetweenmaleandfemalelisteners.
ANALYSISOFEARBUDANDLOUDSPEAKERLISTENING
Inordertodeterminewhetherconsumersratedaudiodifferentlywhenlisteningoverearbudsandloudspeakers,a
multivariateanalysisofvariance(MANOVA)wasconductedwithtypeoflistening,bitrateandgenreas
independentvariables,andMOS,turnoffscore,andsatisfactionscoreasdependentvariables.Thisanalysis
revealedsignificantdifferencesforgenreandbitrateonallmeasuresbutdidnotrevealdifferencesforloud
speakerorearbudlistening.Thusforthemainanalysis,allresponses,whethercollectedonearbudsor
loudspeakers,werecollapsedintoonemeasure.
16

ANALYSESOFMOS,COMBINEDANDSEPARATEDBYGENRE
Figure12showslistenersmeanopinionscoreswhenallaudioselectionswerecombined.Asterisk(*)indicatethat
thecodecaudioqualityisstatisticallysignificantdifferentfromtheReference.NotethatMP3wassignificantly
worsethanHEAACandxHEAACatthelowestbitrates,andthatat32kbpsandabove,HEAACandxHEAAC
performedextremelywell,withlistenersratingthemasgood.Listenersdidnotdistinguishbetweentheaudio
qualityofHEAACandxHEAACat64kbpsandtheuncodedreferencesample.
5.0
4.5
4.0
3.5
3.0
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0

16

24

MP3

1.8 *

2.0 *

HEACCv1

3.2 *
3.8 *

3.7 *
4.0

xHEAAC

32

48

64

96

128

WAV

4.2
3.9

4.1

4.0

3.9

3.9

4.1

4.1

AAC

4.2

Reference

4.1
Figure12MOSallaudiocombined

5.0
4.5
4.0

MP3

3.5

HEACC

3.0

xHEAAC

2.5

AACLC

2.0

Reference

1.5
1.0
16

24

32

48

64

96

128

Figure13MOSmusic

17

5.0
4.5
4.0

MP3

3.5

HEACC

3.0

xHEAAC

2.5

AACLC

2.0

Reference

1.5
1.0
16

24

32

48

64

96

128

Figure14MOSspeech

5.0
4.5
4.0

MP3

3.5

HEACC

3.0

xHEAAC

2.5

AACLC

2.0

Reference

1.5
1.0
16

24

32

48

64

96

128

Figure15MOSvoiceover

Figure16showstheOnOffscoreswithcombinedaudioselections.Whenansweringthisquestion,99%of
listenersfeltthattheywouldleavetheradioonat32kbpsandabove.Evenat24kbps,approximately94%of
listenersclaimedtheywouldleaveHEAACon.Figures1719showonoffscoresbygenre.

18

1.0
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0.0

16

24

32

48

64

MP3

0.21

0.38

HEACC

0.72

0.94

0.99

1.00

0.99

xHEAAC

0.98

0.99

0.99

0.99

0.99

96

128
1.00

1.01

AACLC

1.01

Reference

1.00

Figure16Leaveonallaudiocombined

1
0.9
0.8
0.7

MP3

0.6

HEACC

0.5

xHEAAC

0.4

AACLC

0.3

Reference

0.2
0.1
0
16

24

32

48

64

96

128

Figure17Leaveonmusic

19

1
0.9
0.8
0.7

MP3

0.6

HEACC

0.5

xHEAAC

0.4

AACLC

0.3

Reference

0.2
0.1
0
16

24

32

48

64

96

128

Figure18Leaveonspeech

1
0.9
0.8
0.7

MP3

0.6

HEACC

0.5

xHEAAC

0.4

AACLC

0.3

Reference

0.2
0.1
0
16

24

32

48

64

96

128

Figure19Leaveonvoiceover

20

LOUDNESSCONSUMERTEST2
METHODOLOGY
FortyparticipantswererecruitedfortheloudnesstestfromTowsonUniversitystaffandadministrationviathe
universitysDailyDigestannouncementforum.Seebelowfordemographicdetails.
AgeGroup
1830
3040
4050
5065

Female
5
5
5
5

Male
5
5
5
5

Participantslistenedto128speechandmusicaudiosamples,dividedintoatotaloffoursessions.Inthefirsttwo
sessions,participantslistenedtosamplesviaspeakers,andthenrepeatedthetwosessionslisteningviaearbuds.
Speakersandearbudswerecounterbalancedacrossparticipantssothat20peopleusedspeakersfirstand20
peopleusedearbudsfirst.Participantswereencouragedtoadjustthevolumetoacomfortablesettingbefore
beginning,afterwhichthevolumeremainedconstant.
Inthefirstsegmentofsession1,participantslistenedtoasingleaudiosampleapproximately1525secondsin
length.Participantsweretoldthatsomesampleswouldcontainaloudnesschangeandsomesampleswouldnot.
Theywereinstructedtopressthespacebarassoonastheydetectedachangeinloudness,ifatall.
Inthesecondsegmentofsession1,participantslistenedtotwosamples,backtoback,andwereinstructedto
listenforaloudnesschangebetweensamples.Listenerswerepresentedwithdifferentcombinationsofaudio,
includingspeechtospeech,speechtomusic,musictospeechandmusictomusic.Sampleswereapproximately
1518secondsinlength,sothatlisteningtoasamplepairtookapproximately3035seconds.Theparticipantsdid
nothavetoidentifywhenthechangewasdetectedinsegmenttwo,asthechangeoccurredwhenthesecond
samplewasplayed.Aftereachsampleorsamplepairparticipantsanswered4questions:
1) Couldyoudetectaloudnesschangeonascaleof110(1didnotdetect,10easilydetectable);
2) Onascaleof110howannoyingwastheloudnesschange(1notannoying,10veryannoying);
3) Ifthischangeoccurredwhilelisteningtotheradio,wouldyoudonothing,adjustthevolumeorturnoff
theradio.
4) Ifthischangeoccurredonaregularbasis,wouldyoudonothing,adjustthevolumeorturnofftheradio.
Sessionthreewasareplicationofsessionone,andsessionfourwasareplicationofsessiontwo,withthe
participantlisteningviaspeakersorearbuds,whichevertheydidnotuseinthefirsttwosessions.

SAMPLEPREPARATION
Audioselectionsincludedmusicandspeech.Theselectionswerechosenbasedontheevennessoftheir
amplitude,usingtheOrbanLoudnessMeterwithitscurrentITURBS.17702algorithm.Eachcandidateselection
wasmeasuredata1samplepersecondintervalandsampleswereselectedthateachhadamaximumtominimum
loudnessvariationoflessthan4dB.Thisensuredthatlistenersscoreswouldnotbesignificantlybiasedbyone
partoftheselection,suchasthelastsoundstheyhearduringthesample.UsingtheaudiogaineditorinCoolEdit
21

Pro,theselectedsampleswereadjustedingainsothattheaverageloudnesslevelofthesampleswaswithin2dB
ofeachother.
ANALYSISOFAGEANDGENDER
Fortheloudnesstest,A2(Gender:male,female)x4(Agegroup:1829;3039;4049;5065)AnalysisofVariance
(ANOVA)wasagainconductedtoexplorewhethermenandwomenweredifferentiallyannoyedbychangein
amplitude.Therewasnostatisticaldifferenceamongagegroups,andnostatisticaldifferencebetweenmaleand
femalelisteners.

WITHINSTREAMRESULTS
Bypressingabutton,peoplewereaskedtoidentifywhereachangeinamplitudeoccurredwithinasingleaudio
stream.Correctresponseswerecountedonlyiflistenerspressedtheirbuttonswithin6secondsoftheamplitude
change.Figure20showsthepercentageofcorrectandincorrectresponsesasthedBchangeincreasedfrom1dB
to9dB.Noticethatat6dBamajorityoflistenerswereabletocorrectlyidentifyachangeinamplitude,but
beneaththatlevel,80%oflistenerscouldnotcorrectlyidentifyachange.Peoplealsodemonstratedthefalse
positiveresponse,sayingthattherewerechangesinsamplesthatwereheldconstant.
1
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6

IncorrectResponse

0.5

IncorrectNoResponse

0.4

Incorrectbeforeortoolate

0.3

Correct

0.2
0.1
0
1dB

2dB

3dB

4dB

6dB

9dB

Constant

Figure20Percentageofpeopleidentifyingchangeinamplitude

Figure21displaysparticipantsratingsofhowannoyingthechangewas,ona1(notannoying)to10(extremely
annoying)scale.Noticethatparticipantsdidnotthinkanyoftheamplitudechangeswereveryannoyingor
extremelyannoying,butthatat9dBparticipantsclaimedthatthechangewasbecomingannoying.

22

10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
1dB

2dB

3dB

4dB

6dB

9dB

NoChange

Figure21Howannoyingthechangewas

Figure22andFigure23showhowlistenerswouldrespondtotheradioafterachangeoccurredwithinastream.
Figure22showsthatiflistenersbelievedthechangewereatypical,fewwouldturnthevolumeoff,andinsteadopt
toadjustthevolumeknob.However,asisseeninFigure23,iftheybelievedthechangewouldoccurfrequently,
morereportedtheywouldturntheradiooff.

Figure22Listeners'behaviorafterachangeoccurredIFthechangewasrare

23


Figure23Listeners'behaviorafterachangeoccurredIFthechangewasfrequent

BETWEENSTREAMRESULTS
Listenerswereaskedseveralquestionsafterlisteningtotwoaudiostreams.First,theywereaskedhowprominent
thechangewas.Figure24showslistenersratingswhenlisteningonearbudsorloudspeakers.Noticethatwhen
thechangesweresmall,participantsclaimedthattheywereeasiertohearonearbuds.However,whenthe
changewaslarge,bothearbudlisteningandloudspeakerlisteningwasequivalent.Similarly,asseeninFigure25,
listenerswereslightlymoreannoyedatlowerloudnesschangeswhentheylistenedoverearbuds,butthis
annoyanceevenedoutasthechangebecamelarger.
Figure24Howprominentchangewaswhenlisteningonearbudsorloudspeakers

24

Figure25Howannoyingchangewaswhenlisteningonearbudsorloudspeakers

WithregardtothedirectionofthechangeloudtosoftorsofttoloudFigure26andFigure27showthatasthe
changeincreasedmorelistenersreportedhearingthechangeandbeingannoyedbythechangeiftheaudiowent
fromsoftertolouder.
Figure26Howprominentchangewas

25

Figure27Howannoyingchangewas

Withregardtoparticipantsbehavior,aswiththefirstsegmentwherechangeoccurredwithintheaudioselection,
whenchangeoccurredbetweentwoaudioselectionsparticipantsweremorelikelytoturnofftheradiowhenthey
feltthischangewouldoccurfrequently.AsisevidentinFigure29,at6dBchangepeoplewerebeginningtotake
action,byadjustingthevolumeorturningtheradiooff.
Figure28Behaviorifradioloudnesschangeoccurredonce

26

Figure29Behaviorifradioloudnesschangeoccurredregularly

1
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0

I'dadjustthevolumewith
thevolumeknob.
I'ddonothing.
I'dturnofftheradio.

3dB

6db

9dB

12db

Finally,whenweparsedthedataintospecifickindsofaudio,participantsweresignificantlymoreannoyedwhen
changeoccurredbetweenspeechsamples,ascanbeseeninFigure30.Itislikelythatpeoplearesignificantly
moresensitivetochangesinamplitudebetweenspeechsamplesbecausetheyexpectspeechtobemoreeven,
andaremorefamiliarwithchangeinamplitudewithmusic,asdemonstratedinFigure31andFigure32.
Figure30Annoyancebetweenaudiostreamsspeechtospeech

10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0

loudtosoft
softtoloud

3dB

6db

9dB

12db

27

Figure31Annoyancebetweenaudiostreamsmusictomusic

10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0

loudtosoft
softtoloud

3dB

6db

9dB

12db

Figure32Annoyancebetweenaudiostreamsspeech/musicandmusic/speech

10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0

loudtosoft
softtoloud

3dB

6db

9dB

12db

earbudearbudearbudearbudearbudearbud

28

TECHNICALRECOMMENDATIONS
Thesectionaddresseskeyfactorsthataffectthequalityexperiencedbylisteners,summarizedbelow:5

Absenceofdigitalcompressionartifactsintheaudio(bychoosingtherightbitrateinassociationwitha
givencodec);
Optimumdynamicrangetoheartheprogrammaterial,asdeterminedbythelistenersneeds(controlled,
forclarityinanoisyenvironment,oropenwhenthelistenerdesiresitandtheambientnoiselevelis
lower);and
Reliabilityofthestreamaudio(oflessimportanceforpersonalcomputersconnectedtobroadband
networks,butasignificantconcernforstreamingovermobilenetworks).

CODECSELECTIONANDBITRATE
Thetwotestresultsdiscussedearlierinthisreportprovidesdirectguidanceontheselectionofacodecandthebit
rate.Thefirststudy,byexperiencedlisteners,examinedavarietyofcommonlyusedcodecs.Intermsofefficiency
(thelowestbitratesrequiredtorenderhighmeanopinionscores)forarangeofaudiomaterial,thisstudy
identifiedthexHEAACandHEAACcodecsforfirstandsecondplace,respectively.xHEAACandHEAACprovided
similarresultsformusic,butxHEAACexcelledatvoicequalityatthelowestbitrates.Asdiscussedinthesection
AudioCodecsUnderTest,however,xHEAACisnotcurrentlyavailableacrossallsmartphoneandPCplatforms.
TheHEAACcodecissufficientlyavailableinconsumerdevices,inouropinion,toreceivethenomination.

Figure33TheAdvancedAudioCodec"family"

Thequalityoftheaudioitself,thatis,tobeaudiblyfreefromdistortion,noise,etc.,isunderthecontrolof
programoriginatorsandisbeyondthescopeofthisstudy
29

Figure33illustratesthecodecsundertheunifiedAACpatentlicense.Thecodecsarearrangedinorderof
decreasingage,aswellastheirincreasingbitrateefficiency,fromlefttoright.6TheAACcodecsrecommendedfor
NPRsstreamingservicesarecontainedintheMPEG4box.TheAACLowComplexity(AACLC)codecis
appropriateforratesofatleast96kbps.ItspawnedtheHighEfficiency(HEAAC)versionbyaddingSpectral
BandReplication.Atbitratesbelowapproximately96kbps,AACswitchestotheHEAACmode.Thistransitionis
automatic,butthespecificbitratemaybemodifiedbysendingconfigurationparameterstotheencoder.Atrates
of32kbpsandbelow,ParametricStereoprocessingisadded,tofurtherimprovecodingefficiencyandextend
usablestereooperationtoaslowas20kbps.Allthreecodecsaresupportedwithinonesoftwareencoderand
decoder,andtheirlicensingtermsaresharedwithotherformsofAAC,suchasAACLowDelay(AACLD).

CODECCOMPATIBILITYANDLICENSING
TheHEAACcodecisalmostuniversallyavailableinportabledevicesoperatedbyiOSandAndroid(atleastsince
version3.1Honeycomb,accordingtothedeveloper).7Androiddevicesbeforev3.1maynothaveHEAACon
board,however,asthesedevicesarenowmorethantwoyearsold,thispercentageisdecliningasconsumers
replacetheirdeviceswithnewermodelsandlaterversionsofAndroidOS.
OthersystemsthatsupportHEAACincludeBlackberry,Windowsphone,SymbianOSandthe3rdGeneration
PartnershipProject(3GPP),whichisacollaborationoftelecommunicationsentities.ServicessuchasPandora,
Netflix,huluandtheBBCiPlayeruseHEAAC,aswellasglobalbroadcastsystemssuchasDigitalVideo
Broadcasting(DVB),WorldDigitalMultimediaBroadcasting(DMB),DigitalRadioModiale(DRM).8
Inadditiontothetechnicalperformanceandavailability,NPRshouldconsideranycostsassociatedwiththecodec
choice.HEAAChasnofee,eitherforNPRtostreamorforlistenerstouse,providedthatthecodecwassupplied
bythephonesmanufacturer.ForthosemobiledevicesthatdonotincludetheHEAACcodec,theAACcodec
couldbeincludedinaplayersoftwaredownload,butthedeveloper(NPR)wouldbesubjecttomandatorylicense
fees:alicensefeeof$15,000forfiveyearsplus$0.98perdownloadforthefirst500,000units.9

Thesedesignationsaresuppliedinafigurebythelicensingagent,ViaLicensingCorporation,whichrepresentsa
numberofpatentholdersinvolvedinthedevelopmentofAAC.Thedesignationsmayvary.
7

Thepageathttp://developer.android.com/about/versions/android2.3highlights.htmlstates(on10/2012)that
the[Android2.3]platformalsoaddssupportforAACencodingandAMRwidebandencoding(insoftware).
Decodingwouldalsobeneededtoplaybackonesownfiles,althoughthisisnotstated.Thesupportedfilesand
containerformatsatthepagehttp://developer.android.com/guide/appendix/mediaformats.htmllistADTSraw
AAC(.aac,decodeinAndroid3.1+,encodeinAndroid4.0+).Thisstatementseemsinconsistentwiththefirst
reference.
8

HEAACTheUniversalSolution,FraunhoferIISpresentationtotheAudioEngineeringSociety,October2010.

LicensingonbehalfofthepatentholdersisadministeredbyViaLicensingCorporation;see
http://www.vialicensing.com/licensing/aacfaq.aspxandhttp://www.vialicensing.com/licensing/aacfees.aspx.
30

TheMP3format,whileuniversallyavailable,appearstobeanalternative.However,thedrawbackstothatcodec
include:

MP3streamingrequiresatleast2timesthebitrateofHEAACforsimilarquality,whichincreases
streamingcostsandmayaccumulatehigherdatafeesforlisteners;10
ThehigherstreamingrateneededbyMP3willlowerstreamreliability,comparedtoHEAAC.

AcostbenefitanalysisisindicatedforthecaseofHEAACcodecdownloadversusthecostofanalternativeMP3
stream.Thefollowingexampleshowsthat,dependingonthenumberoflistenerswhodownloadtheNPRapp
withHEAAC(asweunderstandthatthecurrentversionhasbeendownloadedatleast100,000times),thecostto
NPRofthecodeclicensecouldbemadeupinamatteroftimethroughstreamingcostsavingsbyusingHEAAC
insteadofMP3.TheexamplebelowillustratesthenumberofmonthstobreakevenfortheAAClicenseifthe
addedstreamingcostwere5peruserpermonth.
overalllicensefee

$15,000

perdownload

$0.98

numberofdownloads:

10,000

50,000

100,000

500,000

costperdownload

$2.48

$1.28

$1.13

$1.01

differenceperuserpermonth,128kbps

$0.05

timeitwouldtaketogettothedownloadcostfortheAACdecoder
(numberofmonths)

49.6

25.6

22.6

20.2

Anotherconsiderationforimplementinganyadvancedcodeciscomputersrunningolderoperatingsystems,such
asWindowsXP,whichlackedAAC.CodecupgradesthatincludeacompatibleAACdecoderarewidelyavailablefor
downloadontheInternet,anditmaybepossibletouseseparatepublicradiostreamsoftwaretoavoidthe
licensingfeeforconsumerPCsoftware,whichis$0.48perunitplus$32,000peryear.9CompatibilityofHEAAC
witholderApplecomputerproductsisnotlikelytobeanissueasApplesiTunesusestheAACcodecexclusively.

10

TheStreamGuyshostingservice(www.streamguys.com)leviesa$0.05extracostperuserpermonth(at1000
usercapacity)forcustomerswhostreamat128kbps,comparedtothosewhostreamat48kbps.
31

STREAMINGREQUIREMENTS
Whileitisundeniablethatthathigherbitratespermitpotentiallygreateraudioquality,thereareotherconditions
besidesaudioqualitytoconsider,suchasthereliabilityofthestream,whichrunscountertothebitrate.The
followingsectionexplainshowwirelessmobilenetworksaffectstreamreliabilityandhowthisimpactsthechoice
ofstreamingbitrate.

WIRELESSNETWORKS
Wirelessmobilenetworks,suchasVerizonandAT&T,areessentialtoamobileaudioservice.Thesecarriersare
licensedbytheFCCtoprovidetwowaybroadbanddataservicetolargegeographicareasoftheU.S.Accordingto
ConsumerWatchdog(www.consumerwatchdog.com),however,theypromisefaster4Gspeedswithoutactually
makingimprovementstoexistingproductsandservicesorwithoutdisclosingthemeaningoffaster.Prompted
bycomplaintsfromconsumersaboutirregularbroadbandspeedsandunevengeographicservice,theFCC
announcedthatitwilltestmobileoperatorssystemsinthenearfuture(seeFigure33).Someindustryanalysts
doubtthatmuchcanbedonetoimproveperformance,ascustomergrowthanduserdemandforgreateramounts
ofdatawillcontinuetosoakupthenetworks4GandLTEspeedimprovements.

Figure34Examplesofnewsreportsaboutthemisleadingspeedclaimsofmobilewirelessoperators;FCCintentiontoinvestigate

Thebandwidthofwirelessnetworksisnotanabsolute:itcanbedescribedbyaverages,withstatisticalvariations
aroundamean.ThemeasurementsinFigure34andFigure35furtherillustratethatbitrates,whengroupedinto

32

ranges,varyintheiroccurrence(frequency).11ThemeasuredratescompareUDP,anInternettransportprotocol
withnodataretransmission,toTCP,atransportprotocolthatcanrequestretransmissionofdatapackets.UDPis
commonlyusedforstreamswhileTCPisacoreprotocolusedontheInternetforreliablefiletransfer.

Figure35StatisticalavailabilityofbitrateforTCPandUDPprotocols

Reliableprotocols,suchasTCP,guaranteecorrectdeliveryofeachbitinthemediastream.However,they
accomplishthiswithasystemoftimeoutsandretries,whichmakesthemmorecomplextoimplementthanUDP.
UDPisitpreferredforstreamingbecauseithaslesslatencyandprocessingoverheadthanTCP,butitisless
reliablebecausepacketcheckingandretransmissionrequestsarenotpossible.Witheitherprotocol,whenthereis
datalossonthenetwork,amediastreamstallswhiletheprotocolhandlersdetectthelossandretransmitthe
missingdata.Clientscanminimizethiseffectbybufferingdata,butattheexpenseoflongerstartuptimesand
latency.
ItisapparentthatUDPoffershighermoreoccasionsforhigherdownstreambitratesthanTCP.TheFigure35
chartsshowthatbitratesinthecityhavea
widervariabilitythanthehighway
measurements.Itisimportanttonotethat
thesemeasurementsareaveragesovertime,
andthatthedata,especiallywithUDP,could
includeshorterintervalswhennodatais
received.
Figure36showsasimplificationofhowaudio
datapacketscanflowoveranInternetnetwork
(wirelessorwired)toaUDPdevice,asthesmall
blocksalongthebaseline.Theaccumulated
dataovertimeisshownwiththeblueline.If
theaudioplayoutrate,shownbytheredline,

Figure36Dataflowforstreamingandfiletransfer

11

TheEffectsofMobilityonStreamingMediainCDMA20001xEVDONetwork,PhillipaSessini,et.al.,Dept.of
ComputerScience,UniversityofCalgary,Proc.SPIE,Jan.2007.
33

exceedsthereceiveddata,dropoutsintheaudiowilloccur.Ifaloweraudioplayoutrate,showningreen,isless
thantherateatwhichdataaccumulatesinthebuffer,uninterruptedaudioresults.Thesescenariosdonotapply
tofiledownloadsystems,suchasPandora,whichareeffectivelyfiletransfersystemswithalargedatabuffer:the
datatransfercanevenstop,briefly,aslongasthedataburstskeepaheadofthefileplayoutrate.(Itisbelieved
thatPandoraandsimilarfileplayoutsystemsmayalsoshifttoalowerplaybackbitrateinanticipationofadata
shortfall,whichhelpsavoidaudiodropouts.Becausepodcastsarefiletransfers,theirplaybackafterdownloadis
complete;hence,highburstybitratesarepossiblewithouteffecttotheplayback.
Priortothisprojectweconstructedaninvehiclesystemtomeasurethereliabilityofdifferentstreams.Todothis
weconnectedtheaudiooutputfromasmartphonetoanaudiosensorandcomputerthatcouldrecordtimeand
locationalongwithaudioavailability.Thephonewasplacedintheclear,inaholderatthetopofthedash,anda
GPSantennawasplacedontheroof.Ourprimaryinterestwastodetermineifstreamratewouldaffectreliability.

Figure37Typicalroute,betweenNPRandhomeforoneoftheauthors.

ThemapinFigure37showsatriptoNPRheadquarters,intheupperright,fromtheVirginiasuburbsasaseriesof
dots.Thegreendotsindicatestreamaudioandthewhitedotsshowdropouts,usinganAppleiPhone3GSonthe
AT&Tnetwork.12Theinsetchartshowstheaudioavailabilityovertimeforthesametrip.Itisapparentthatthis
stream(at128kbpsfromNRKKlassik,inNorway)hadseveraldropouts,withtwolastingabouttwominuteseach.
Ourtestingfoundthatlowerbitratestreamswereconsistentlymorereliablethanhigherstreams.

12

TheiPhone3GSintroducedsupportfor7.2MbpsHSDPA(HighSpeedDownlinkPacketAccess)intheUniversal
MobileTelecommunicationsSystem(UMTS),athirdgenerationmobilecellularsystemfornetworksbasedonthe
GSMstandard.Thiscapabilitywouldappeartofarexceedthe0.128Mbps(128kbps)streamrateintheexample.
34

Thestreamloggingsystemwasexpandedlatertosupporttwosmartphones.Inthatwaywecouldby
simultaneouslymeasuretwodifferentstreamsinonevehicleduringthesametrip,cancellingoutthevariations
thatmayoccurfromtriptotrip.Figure38showstwomemberstationswithstreamratesinthistestof32kbps
(upper,inred)and128kbps(lower,inblue),bothreceivedoniPhone4sontheAT&Tnetwork.Thehigherbit
ratestreamexperiencedmoredropouts,includingone17seconddropatapproximately573secondsfromthe
start.
Dropoutbehaviorwithhigherbitratestreamswasfrequentlylessreliable,butnotalwaysconsistent.AsFigure38
shows,thedropoutsarenotcorrelatedintime,suggestingthatinpopulousareaswherethesignalisconsistently
high,thedropoutsarecausedbynetworkcapacitylimitations.

Figure38Comparisonofdropoutsonsimultaneousstreamsat128and32kbps

Ourtestsfoundsignificantlyhigherdropoutduringpeakmorningandeveningtraveltimethanduringoffpeak
times,whichreinforcesourtheorythatnetworkloading,notsignal,wasreducingstreamreliability.Thismaybe
duetotravelfromonewirelesscellintoanothercellthatisattemporarilyatcapacity,wherenoothercellis
availableforhandoff.Wealsofoundcaseswherehandoffappearedtobedelayed,suchasthesectionofI66
leavingWashingtonandenteringArlington,wherewetheorizethathandoffbetweenWashingtonandVirginia
networksisoccurringthatcausesregularandpredictabledropout.Thedropoutsareusuallymoreprolongedwith
highbitratestreamsinthissectionofroadway.

CODECANDBITRATES
Fromthetestingdiscussedabove,weconcludethatlowerbitratesoffernoticeablyhigherresilienceagainst
momentarynetworkcapacityissuesandpoorcellhandoff.Theeffectofdropoutsonlistenersatisfactionwasnot
measuredinthisstudy,butwepresumethatlistenersannoyancewithdropoutsrisesquicklywithfrequencyor
duration,andcouldleadtotuneouts.Basedonourresearch,werecommendkeepingthebitrateofstreams
aslowaspossible,consistentwithhighaudioquality.FortheHEAACcodec,webelievethisbalanceisachieved
ataconstantstreamrateof48kbps.(bitrateisnotsuitedtowirelessstreamingastheinstantaneousbitrate
mayexceedthedatachannelcapacity,resultinginincreaseddropouts.)

35

LOUDNESSCONSISTENCY
Nexttodigitalaudioquality,theuniformityofperceptualloudness,bothfromstreamtostreamandfrom
programtoprogramwithinstreams,isoneofthemostimportantfactorstolistenerenjoyment.Intelevision,for
example,thematchingofcommercialannouncementstoprogrammingandcontrolofdynamicrangehave
requiredlargeinvestmentsintechnologyresearchanddevelopmenttotacklethisproblemtoconsumers
satisfaction.Streamingservicesforpublicradiodeservesspecialconsiderationbecauseofthewidevarietyof
environmentsinwhichlistenersmayhearstreamsandbecausetheycaneasilyswitchbetweenstreamsofvarying
programtypes.
Asexplainedbelow,thecurrentconsistencyofloudnessbetweenpublicradiostreamsispoor.Thisappearstobe
duetomultiplefactors,includingalackofstandardsfordigitalaudiotransmissionlevel,inattentiontoaudiolevels
thatinadvertentlygetoutofadjustment,andgreatvarietyinaudioprocessingdevicesandthewaytheyare
operated.Atthesametime,audiostreamsontheInternetunrelatedtopublicradiooperateacrossanenormous
rangeofaudiolevels,whichpresentsissuesforlistenerswhomayswitchtoandfrompublicradiostreams.
Listenersmayhearpublicradiostreamsinavarietyofenvironments,fromanoisysubwaycartoaquietliving
room.Thoseinnoisierlocationsneedtightcontrolofdynamicrangetoheareverywordofatalkshowor
newscast,andeverynoteofasymphony.However,thedegreeofloudnessmanagementnecessaryfornoisy
listeningconditionsisentirelydifferentthaninaquietroom.Consequently,wepresentasolutionthatputsthe
activeloudnessmanagementintheplayer,wherethelistenercanchoosethedynamicrangethatssuitablefor
theirenvironmentandtaste.

CURRENTEXPERIENCE

Figure39Audiosamplesof49publicradiostationscarryingNPR'sWeekendEdition,Saturday;variationinlevelexceeds21dB

Figure39isascreenshotoftheprogramlevelsfrom49publicradiostationstreams,allcarryingthesame
program:WeekendEdition,Saturday,onFebruary21,2012.Eachsampleismorethan20seconds,whichaffords
timetodetermineeachstreamslevel,whichrangesbymorethan21dB.Listenerswhoswitchbetweensomeof
thesestreamswouldhearchangesinloudnesslargeenough,accordingtoourresearch,tobeannoyingoreven
causelistenerturnoff.ThisisclearlyachallengeforpublicradiossuccesswithInternetaudiostreams.

36


Figure40Audiospectrogramof49publicradiostreams

Figure40showsafrequencyspectrogramofthesame49publicradiostreamscarryingWeekendEditionSaturday.
Theheightsoftheverticalbarsshowthehighestfrequencytransmitted,from43Hzatthebottom,to20kHznear
thetop,with9991Hznearthecenter.Colorsindicatetheamplitude,fromred(highestamplitude)todarkgreen
(noenergy).Severalstreamscontainsubstantialenergyupto15kHz,whileseveralothersrolloffjustabove5kHz.
Thesevariationsareduetodifferentbitratesforthestreams,aswellasdifferentcodecs.Listenersswitchingfrom
streamtostreamwillhearlargevariationsinthequalityandnaturalnessofspeechandmusic.
OriginalAudio

PeakNormalized

30
25
20
15
10
5
0
1

9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 37 39 41 43 45 47 49

Figure41Loudnessofsameaudiosamplesasabove(CBSLoudnessMeter)inblue;orangebarsshowlevelvariationsaftereachsamplewas
normalizedaccordingtoitselectricalpeakvalues.

Figure41isachartofloudness(measuredbytheCBSLoudnessMeter)ofthe49publicradiostreamsbeforeand
afterpeaknormalization.Thistechniqueadjuststheaudiogainofeachstreamsampletoproducethesame
electricalpeaklevelacommonpractice,especiallyintheeditingofdigitalaudio,astheentirefilecanbe
examined.However,thistechniqueisalsosimilartomostaudioprocessors(compressorlimiters),whichadjust
theirgaindynamicallytoproduceaconstantelectricalpeaklevel.
37

Thedifferenceinheightofthepeaknormalized(orange)barstotheoriginal(blue)barsshowsthatdespitepeak
normalization,theloudnessvariesbyupto8dBacrossthestreamingsamples.Thisdemonstratesthatevenwhen
audioisleveledaccordingtopeaks,therecanstillbevariationsinloudnessthatcouldbeunnatural,oreven
annoyingtolisteners.WerecommendthataudioproductionimplementanEBU128/ITURBS.17702loudness
measure,whichimitatesthewayhumansperceiveloudness,ratherthanrelyingonelectricalpeaklevelalone.13
Thisisdiscussedfurtherinthenextsection.
Evenifthealltheaudioprocessorswerethesameandadjustedalike,theyonlyprovideuniformpeaksnot
necessarilyuniformimpressionofloudness.Thetelevisionindustryhasdevelopedautomaticloudnesscontrollers
forprogramaudio,basedaroundtheInternationalTelecommunicationsUnionstandardITURBS.17702,
Algorithmstomeasureaudioprogrammeloudnessandtruepeakaudiolevel.Thisstandarddefinesaloudness
measurementprocedurethatgenerallyfollowshumanhearing.Italsohasbeenusedtobuildasystemtoregulate
loudnessforbroadcastandstreamingapplications.Followingourreportontestsofthetoleranceoflistenersto
loudnesschanges,wepresentrecommendationsthatbuildonourresultsandcurrentloudnessmeasurement.

LOUDNESSCONTROLANDMANAGEMENT
PROGRAMLEVELMEASUREMENT
Toensureliveproductionstreamsareencodedwithuniformprogramlevels,thefollowingproceduresare
recommended,basedonthescalesinFigure42:14
Alignment
Level(+4dBm)

Measurement
Level(30dBfs)

Digital
FullScale
(0dBFS)

Permitted
MaximumLevel

9dBFS

IECType1PPM

20

16

12

18dBFS
20

15

(12)

10

3 2 1 0 1 2 3

IECSVI(VUmeter)

Figure42AlignmentandmaximumprogramlevelsforcommonmetersbasedonITUandEBUrecommendations

13

Loudnessnormalizationandpermittedmaximumlevelofaudiosignals,EBURecommendationR128,Geneva
2011,andPracticalguidelinesfordistributionsystemsinaccordancewithEBUR128,EBUTech3344,Geneva,
October2011.
14

ThisgenerallyfollowsITURBS.1726,Signallevelofdigitalaudioaccompanyingtelevisionininternational
programmeexchange,andITURBS.6452,Testsignalsandmeteringtobeusedoninternationalsound
programmeconnections.
38

ForsystemsusinganIECType1peakprogrammeterforproduction,thePPMsPermittedMaximumLevel
(typically0dBonitsscale)withatesttoneisset9dBbelowtheencodersDigitalFullScale(0dBFS,
shownastheredverticallinetotheright);
o Maximumprogrampeakswilloccasionallyreachthe0dBscalelevel,with9dBforunexpected
increasesinprogramlevel;
o Lineuptoneat18dBbelowDigitalFullScalewouldtypicallyindicateat9dBonthemeterscale;
o Measurementtonesat30dBFS,forexampleforfrequencyresponsetesting,wouldindicate
21dBbelowMaximumPermittedLevel;
ForsystemsutilizingaANSIVUMeter(IECVolumeIndicator),atonea0VUindicationisset18dBbelow
DigitalFullScale;
o Maximumprogrampeakswilloccasionallyreachthe0VUscalelevel,with18dBofheadroom
forpeakovershootandunexpectedincreasesinprogramlevel;
o Measurementtonesat30dBFS,forexampleforfrequencyresponsetesting,wouldindicate
21dBbelowMaximumPermittedLevel.
TomonitorthelevelofstreamaudiowerecommendmeasurementwithBOTHanIEC6026810Type1
meterforquasipeakelectricallevel,andanITURBS.17702loudnessmeter.Thefirstmeterensuresthat
thetransmissionwaveformisnotclippedandthesecondmeterdeterminestheinstantaneousloudness.

LOUDNESSVALUESSHOULDBETHETARGET,NOTPEAKLEVELS
Figure43showsacomparisonbetweenloudnessnormalizedaudio(normalizedwithinaseriesof20to30
secondsubsections)andthesimultaneouselectricalpeaklevel.Theloudnessrangesaroundthe
nominal23LUFSvalue,withavarianceofatwoorthreedB.Atonepointofmaximumloudness(around400
secondsfromthestart),theelectricallevel(shownbythedoublearrowheads)is9dBabovetheloudness

Figure43 Graphofloudnessnormalizedaudioandpeaklevel

39

value.Atabout340secondsfromthestart,themaximumelectricalpeakismorethan20dBabovethe
loudnessatthesamemoment.Ifwehadnormalizedaccordingtotheelectricalpeaks,itisclearthatloudness
couldbethrownoffbymanydB.Peakrespondingcompressorsandlimitersdothatbydesign.Asdiscussed
earlier,thestreamingsystemhasheadroomsimilartotheequipmentusedtoproduceprogramming:peak
controllingdevicesthataffectthenaturaldynamicsinprogrammaterialarenotrequiredifthetransmission
levelplanofFigure42isobserved.
Forbothprogramproductionandstreamtransmission,loudnessoftheprogramshouldbetheprimary
measurementpeaklevelsshouldonlybeobservedtoavoidclipping.TheleftsideofFigure44illustrates
programmingthatisproducedwithpeakmetering,
postprocessedwithpeaklimingandcompression,
orpeaknormalized;theredlineshowsuniform
peaklevelfromprogramtoprogram.However,
theloudness,shownbythegreenline,variesup
anddown.Intherightpanel,theloudnessofeach
programisevaluatedanditsgainisincreasedor
decreasedtoproduceanearlyuniformresult.The
electricalpeakshavebeenshiftedbythegain
changes,whichproducesnonuniformlevels.If
sufficientheadroomisbuiltintothesystem,the
Figure44 Normalizationbypeaklevelversusloudnesslevel
upwarddisplacementinpeakswillnotbeaproblem.

Figure45OrbanLoudnessMeterv2.0.8,showingthemeasurementbarsITUBS.17702ShortTerm&Integrated(settoEBU+18Relative
scales)andReconstructedPeak

Forengineeringwork,anexcellentfreesoftwaremeterthatprovidesthespecifiedandothermeteringstandardsis
theOrbanLoudnessMeterforWindowscomputers(http://orban.com/meter/).Thissoftwareprovidesrealtime
40

displayaswellastheabilitytorecordthemeasurementstoaCSVfileforlateranalysis.Itincludesa
ReconstructedPeakmeterthatindicatesthepeakvaluefollowingD/Aconversion,whichcancauseclippingas
theymaybehigherthanthedigitalsamplesbeforeconversion.Cautionisadvisedinusingthismeterwiththe
WindowsXPoperatingsystem,asitscalibrationisaffectedbyacombinationofcontrolsinWindowsaudio
mixer.15TheOrbanmeterisexcellentfortechnicalmonitoring,butitswindowislargeandcannotberesizedor
simplified.Werecommendtheuseofmetersdesignedforaudioworkstationsproductioneditorsthatprovidea
simplerloudnessindicator,suchastheexamplesinFigure46andFigure47.

Figure46LevelViewSprovidessimpleEBU/ITUloudnessmeteringinliveandintegrated(longterm)forms.

Figure47TheNUGENAudioVisLMHprovidesbothrealtimeandhistoricalchartingofaudiolevels.

LOUDNESSMONITORINGANDNORMALIZATIONOFSTREAMS

15

ForcomputersrunningtheWindowsXPoperatingsystem,itisveryimportanttocalibrateyourmeterdevice
throughtheWindowsWaveI/OorStereoMix,toensureaccuracyandtopreventthesounddevicedriverfrom
clipping.ForWindowsVistaand7/8,themeterusesWindowsAudioSessionAPI(WASAPI)Loopback,whichallows
themetertomonitorplayoutfromanyWindowsAudioplayerapplicationandeliminatestheWaveI/OorStereo
Mixrequirements.LevelcalibrationisunnecessarybecausetheWASAPILoopbackisinternallyunitygain.
41

Streamvalidation,theprocessofmonitoringaudiostreamsforquality,caneasilyincorporateaudiolevel
monitoringtoensurethataudioistransmittedwithacceptableranges.Thereareseveralfirmsthatdothat
commercially,especiallyforaudiothataccompaniesvideo.Fortunately,theneedtomanageloudcommercials
whileofferingpleasingamountsofdynamicrangehadledtoconsiderabledevelopmentinvideoproductionand
transmission.16Therearetoolsavailableforrealtimemonitoringandreportingofaudiostreamlevels,suchasthe
productillustratedinFigure51.Thistypeofsoftwarecouldbeusedtospotaudiolevelproblems,whilethe
streamvalidationschecksdigitalquality,metadata,andotheraspectsofeachstream.Werecommendthat
automatedloudnessmonitoringbeincludedinthestreamvalidationsystem.Asdiscussedbelow,the
monitoredlevelsprovidesinformationtoadjustandnormalizetheaudiotransmissionlevelofanystreamsthat
Toensureapleasantexperienceforlisteners,theaudiolevelofallstreamsshouldachievealongtermloudness
targetof23LUFS.
20

10
Jazzmusicsamplewithlittledynamiccompression,moderate
dynamicrangeandclosetonominallongtermloudness

dB

10

20

30

40
BS.17702
Loudness

Max.LRPeak

LRA
(DynamicRange)

LongtermAvg.
Loudness

23LKFS

Figure48Severalminutesofjazzmusic;BS.17702loudness,peakandlongtermloudnessarerelativeto0dBFS

Figure48showsseveralminutesofjazzmusic(runninglefttoright)fromanactualInternetstream,where0dBFS
isdigitalfullscale.ThechartprovidesITURBS.17702measurementscollectedbytheOrbanmeterapplication:

16

IntheU.S.,inresponsetotheCALM(CommercialAdvertisementLoudnessMitigation)Act,theAdvanced
TelevisionSystemsCommitteeestablishedastudygrouptodeveloparecommendedpracticeA/85thatincludes
measurement,metadatainsertionintoaudiostreamsandloudnessmanagementattheconsumerstelevision.
TheEuropeansformedtheEBUGroupP/LOUDandalsodevelopedextensivesystemstomonitorandcontrol
audioprogramloudness.Theirsystemisevenmoreapplicabletoaudioonlytransmissionsystems,anditis
alreadyinuseinNorwaysdigitalaudiobroadcastingsystem.
42

Peaklevelisshowninred;
ShorttermBS.17702loudnessisdarkblue;
Loudnesstarget23LUFSisshowninyellow;
Averageloudnessislightblue;
Loudnessrange(LRA)isgreen;likeaverageloudness,thismeasurementdevelopsovertime,butskips
silentintervals;thissamplestartsat0dB,risesandsettlesaround17dBontheright.

Thisjazzsampleshowsloudnessbrieflyexceeding23LUFS,butthelongtermaverageatfarrightis
about25LUFS,whichis2dBbelowthetarget.However,peaksexceedthePermittedMaximumLevelof9dBFS
onseveraloccasions,whichleavestoolittlemargintoincreaseprogramlevel.Thetransmissionlevelforthis
programsegmentisconsideredsatisfactoryasis.
20

10
Approx. 2minutesofhighlydynamicclassicalmusicwithminimalprocessing;longterm
averageloudnessisslightlybelowtargetandisacompromisewithpeaksthatoccasionally

dB

10

20

30

40
BS.17702
Loudness

Reconstructed
peak

LRA
(DynamicRange)

LongtermAvg.
Loudness

23LKFS

Figure49A2minutesectionofrelativelydynamicclassicalmusic

ApassageofclassicalmusicisshowninFigure49accordingtotheBS.17702measurementsavailablewiththe
Orbanmeter.Itdisplayslargervariationthanthejazzsample,butthelongtermaverageloudnessalsosettles
about2dBlessthanthetargetloudness.PeaklevelfrequentlyexceedsthePermittedMaximumLevel,which
arguesagainstanincreaseinprogramlevel.Classicalprogrammingmayhaveverywidedynamicrange,thus,a
longtermaverageloudnessobjectiveof23LUFSshouldbeadjusteddownwardifelectricalpeaksfrequently
exceedthePermittedMaximumLevelof9dBFS.

43

20

10

dB

10

20

9
+3

30

40

Streamwithheavydynamic
compressionandhighloudness
BS.17702
Loudness

Reconstructed
peak

Streamwithlessdynamic
compressionandlowerloudness
LRA
(DynamicRange)

LongtermAvg.
Loudness

23LKFS

Figure50Recommendedwaystohandlestreamsthataretooloudortoosoft

Figure50illustratestwoactualaudiostreamsandhowtheirtransmissionlevelsshouldbeadjustedtoprovidethe
bestexperienceforlisteners.Thestreamonthelefthalfistalkwithheavydynamiccompression,asshownbyits
peaklevelinred.Thecompressionandlimitingpreventthepeaksfromreachingmaximumlevel(0dBFS),butit
alsohasanaverageloudnessofapproximately14LUFS,whichis9dBabovethetargetloudnessof23LUFS.
(Notethatthedynamicrange,indicatedbyLRA,ingreen,isabout8dB.)
Theaudiostreamontherightistalkwithlessdynamiccompression,withpeaksreaching10dBFS,andanaverage
loudnessofapproximately27LUFS.Thisstreamcouldbeincreasedintransmissionlevelby3dBwithoutdriving
peaklevelstooclosetothemaximum.Fortheshortintervalusedforthisdemonstration,thisstreamhasa
dynamicrangeofapproximately12dB.Whilethisstreamwouldmomentarilyvaryinloudnessbecauseofitsmore
opendynamicsound,itslongtermloudnesswouldbecomparabletothedenseraudiosampleontheleft,when
bothareadjustedtowardthe23LUFStarget,asshownbytheyellowarrows.Whiletheloudnessofthefirst,
highlycompressedstreamisreduced,thisapproachistheonlywaytoensurethatlistenersarenotannoyedby
jumpsinloudnessfromstreamtostream.17

17

Therearemanyofarticlesdiscussingthegrowingconcernofthesocalledloudnesswarinpubliclydistributed
audio.Examplesofthoughtfulpapersare:TheLoudnessWar:Background,SpeculationandRecommendations,
EarlVickers,AES129thConvention,4November2010;Loudnessnormalisationandpermittedmaximumlevelof
audiosignals,EBUTechnicalRecommendationR128,EuropeanBroadcastingUnion,http://tech.ebu.ch/loudness,
2010;.TheLoudnessWars:WhyMusicSoundsWorse,NPRMusic,31December2009;NorwaysDABnetwork
embracesloudnessnormalization,BjrnAarseth,EBUTechnicalReview,13February2012.
44

BATCHNORMALIZATIONOFAUDIOLOUDNESSFORFILESANDPODCASTS
Thejobofloudnessmanagement,filebyfile,canbeautomatedwithexistingsoftware.Oneexampleis
LevelOne,developedbyGrimmAudio(http://www.grimmaudio.com/pro_software_levelone.htm).This
programcanserveaspartofaningestsystem,which,accordingtoGrimm,analyzesfilesupto100timesfaster
thanrealtime,normalizingprogramsorprogramsegmentsbeforetransmissionorassemblyintolargerprograms.
Figure51showstheLevelOnewindowinusebynumberofNRKprogramfilescarriedbyNorwaysDigitalAudio
Broadcastingsystem.

Figure51Exampleofacommercialbatchfileprocessor,madebyLevelOne,forfileloudnessnormalization

AnotherloudnessmanagementsystemistheAudioToolsServerforfilebasedworkflows
(http://minnetonkaaudio.com/).Thedeveloperstatesthatthisproductincludesadialoganchoringtechnique
thatproducesmoreconsistentspeechlevels,evensurroundedbymusicorsoundeffects.(Thesearetechniques
developedforvideoproduction,althoughtheymayhaveapplicationinpublicradioprogramswithmixedspeech
andothersoundcontent.)
AnopensourcesolutionisFreeLCS(LoudnessCorrectionServer)http://freelcs.sourceforge.net.Thisfreesoftware
issetuponanetworkserverwhereuserscandropaudiofilestobeloudnesscorrected.Thesoftwarecreates
graphicfilesthatdisplaytheinternalloudnessvariationsinafile.Loudnesscorrectedversionsofeachfileare
movedtoaHotFolderforlatertransmission.Theprogramsupportsencodedfileformatsandusesaprotective
limitertopreventpeaklevelsfromclippingwherethevolumemustbeincreased.Thesoftwareiswrittenin
Python3whichallowsmodificationsandintegrationwithotherprogramsandrunsonUbuntuLinux.

LOUDNESSLEVELSRELATIVETOOTHERINTERNETSTREAMS
TheInternetisopenterritoryasfarasstreamloudnessisconcerned.Anincreasingnumberofstreamoperators
arecompressingtheirprogramcontentandoperatingpeaksclosetomaximumlevel.Evenintwoofthreestreams
oftheBBC,dynamiccompressionisevident:Figure52showssampleclipsfromRadio3(classical),Radio2(adult
contemporary)andRadio1(Top40).TheverticalscaleisdBrelativetodigitalfullscale(fortheredandblue
traces)andtheITUBS.17702loudnessscale,dBLK,forthegreentrace.
45


Figure52SamplesfromBBCInternetaudiostreams:Radio3,Radio2andRadio1(1minutetotal)

Inthiscasestudy,Radio2and3wereengagedintalkduringthe15to20secondsamples.Theclassicalmusicat
thetimewasalightorchestrarendition,withpeaksjustbelow15dBFSandloudnessofabout35to25dBLK.
Thisapproximatestheloudnessofapublicradiostream,transmittedatthelevelstandardsdescribedearlier
(PermittedMaximumLevelof9dBFSandtargetloudnessof23dBLK).
Bycomparison,theRadio2and3segmentsarecompressed,raisingelectricalpeakswithin2dBoffullscale,and
loudnessinatightrangebetween15and11dBLK.Ofcourse,theysoundsubstantiallylouderthantheRadio3
program,whichraisesanissueastowhetherpublicradioshouldcompetewithloudstreams.
Activeloudnessmanagementinthestreamplayersisrecommended,byputtingalimitonprogramaudiothat
exceedsanominallevel(therecommendedloudnessinEBUR128is23dBLK).Inthiscasestudy,classicalmusic
wouldbeunaffectedbyathresholdat23dBLK,buttheRadio2andRadio3programswouldbeturneddownby
theloudnessmanagementsoftwareintheplayer.Thesoftwaremayalsobeprogrammedtoreducetherangeof
programmaterialwithwidevariationswhilealsopreventingblastingofloudprogrammaterial(streamsthatare
notcompliantwithEBUR128).
Iftransmissionlevelmustberaised,andlackingloudnessmanagementontheconsumerside,aprocessthathas
theleastimpactonprogramdynamicsisto:(1)producetotargetlevel(23dBLK)asusual;(2)limitpeaks
at9dBFS;and(3)applyagainincreaseofndB(n<<9dB).

46

STREAMSERVER
ThecomputersuppliedtostationsforstreamencodingisaSuperChassis512L260B,madebySuperMicro
Computer,Inc.(http://www.supermicro.com/products/chassis/1u/512/sc512l260.cfm).Itisa1RUrackmount
unitrunninganIntelprocessorandC602chipsetwith4GBofmemoryandtwo1TBharddrives.The
motherboardexpansionslotsupportsonePCIE3.0x16fullheighthalflengthcard,whichlayshorizontally
becauseofthelowformfactorofthecabinet.

PRESENTAUDIOCARD
Foraudioinput,NPRDigitalMediaselectedanEMU0404
PCIaudiocardmadebyCreativeTechnologyLtd.
(http://us.store.creative.com/EMU0404
PCI/M/B00064YZVK.htm).Thecardisoneofthehighest
performanceproductsdevelopedfortheconsumeraudio
market,using24bit192kHzA/DconvertersandDSP
hardwareaccelerationeffectstominimizeCPUload.Asa
consumerproduct,thecard,showninFigure53,issupplied
withdongleadaptersthatinterconnectthecardframeto
standardconsumerconnectors.Theanalog(DB9)and
digital(DB15)audioconnectorsaredetailedinFigure54.
Figure53EMU0404cardwithdonglesattached
Theaudiolinesextendtounbalancedinputandoutput
connectorsoperatingat10dBu.Digitalinputandoutputisextendedtoopticalandunbalancedcoaxialoperating
atS/PDIFsignallevel(0.5Vpp).TheproductisfurnishedwithPatchMixDSPsoftwareforWindowscomputers
thatprovidesacomprehensivearrayofaudiomixingandprocessingeffects.

Theconsumeranaloganddigitallevelscanpresentaproblemforstations,which
typicallyoperatebalancedanalogaudiolinesatsubstantiallyhigherlevels.
Professionalusersmustalsoconvertfrombalancedtounbalancedaudioatthecard
toavoidhumandnoise.Theseconversionsalsoincreasedifficultywithstandardizing
transmissionlevelsandprovidingproperheadroomatthecardsA/Dconverter.
Also,stationsuseprofessionalconnectors,suchasXLRtointerfaceanalogordigital
audioequipment.StationsalsomayuseAESEBUdigitallinestointerconnectaudio
equipment.WhiletheprotocolforS/PDIFandAESdigitalaudioarecompatible,AES
operatesatahighervoltageandisusuallyabalancedconnection.Thesedifferences
couldleadtoreliabilityissueswiththeaudiointerface.
NPRLabsinvestigatedavarietyofprofessionalaudiointerfacecardstoreplacethe
EMU0404,butthecostwouldbefarbeyondwhatwasbudgeted,andNPRhad
alreadypurchasedalargenumberoftheconsumercards.Asasolutionforstations
andNPR,NPRLabsrecommendedaninterfaceboxbesuppliedtostations.Nooff
theshelfboxwasavailable,sowedesignedacustomboxbuiltlocallybyExcalibur
Figure54Audioconnectorsoncard
bracket

47

Electronics.ThisboxprovidesapairoffemaleXLRconnectorsforthe
audioinputandanRJ45connectorfortheoutput,whichisusedwitha
cableandDB9connectorfordirectconnectiontotheEMUcards
analoginput.
AsshowninFigure56,theboxcontainstwoqualityTriadMagnetics
transformersandaresistivepadusingmetalfilmresistors.Theanalog
pathisdesignedtoproduceadigitizedlevelof18dBFSwitha50ohm
sourceimpedanceproducing+4dBm.(Asdiscussedinthesectionon
transmissionlevels,18dBFSisthenominaltransmissionlevelfor
streaming,andthisalsoprovides18dBofheadroomfortheA/D
convertersfullscalepoint.)Thepadimpedanceisdesignedtopresent
abridgingloadtothebalancedsourcewhichreducesthelevelbyless
than2dBifsourcedfrom600ohms.Internaljumpersareprovidedto
Figure55Customaudiointerface
optionallyconnecttheinputandoutputconnectorsgroundterminals
tothemetalbox.Asshipped,thejumperontheXLRinputsisliftedfromthechassisground;thejumperforthe
groundconnectiontotheEMUcardisconnected.Toavoidgroundloopsitisrecommendedthatonlyonejumper
beinplace.

Figure56Schematicforaudiointerfacebox

ArearpanelswitchisprovidedsothattheleftXLRconnectorcanserveastheAESEBUdigitalinput.Thedigital
signalisconnectedtheRJ45outputconnector,whichcanbeconnectedthroughaseparatecabletotheEMU
cardsDB15S/PDIFinputconnector.TestsweremadetoverifythatthecardworksreliablywithAESEBUsignals
(minimum1.2vPP,normalAES3operatesat23vPP).
48

Thelowestsamplerateforthepreselectedaudiointerfacecard(CreativeEMU0404)is44.1kHz,whichisthe
recommendedrateformusic.Ifitwereavailableinthepresentconfiguration,wewouldrecommendarateof
32kHzforstreamswithprimarilynewsandinformationprogramming.Thiswouldavoidquantizationoftheaudio
spectrumthatisunnecessaryforthisgenre,therebyprovidingasmallimprovementincodecefficiency.However,
ifafuturecodecwithavocoderisemployed,thissampleratechangemaybeunneeded.

PATCHMIXDSPCONFIGURATION
TheCreativeEMUcardsrequireproprietarysoftware,calledPatchMixDSPtooperate.Wheninstalled,the
softwarebypassesthestandardWindowsaudiomixerandprovidesadigitalPCMaudioconnectiondirectlstream
encodingsoftwareasLineIn(LegacyMode).TheoperationoftheWindowsaudiomixer,theRealtekALC662
audiochiponthemotherboard,anditsinterfacesoftwareareunaffected;theymaybeusedsimultaneouslyasa
secondaudioinputorasanaudiobridgingmonitoroftheEMUPCMoutput,suppliedtothe3.5mmjackonthe
rearpanel.

Figure57PatchMixDSPwindow(left)andWinampSHOUTcastwindow(right)

ThePatchMixDSPsoftwareloadsautomaticallyatstartup,alongwiththeWinampplayeranditsassociated
SHOUTcastDSPplugin,whichprovidesthestreamencoding.(ThisappliesonlytostreamsnotusingtheTriton
DigitalAdInsertionstreamingsoftware.)

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Figure57showstherecommendedconfigurationforPatchMixDSP,withtwoinputmodules:oneforS/PDIF
digitalinputandoneforanalogL/RinputontheEMU0404card.Themodulesprovidesixinsertseachforspecial
features.TheS/PDIFmodulestopinsertisasmallbargraphpeaklevelindicator,followedbyaDSPbased
COMPRESSor/limiter.Theanalogisalsoconfiguredwithabargraphindicator,followedbyaTIRM_POTgain
control,andthenaSENDinsert,whichroutesthemodulesoutputtothecomputersPCMaudiofeedingthe
encodingcard.OnlyoneSENDcanbeinserted,whichservesasatoggleswitchforeitherdigitalaudioinputor
analoginput.TheTRIM_POTinsertwasclicked,whichputayellowboxarounditanddisplaysinformationabout
theinsert:inthiscasealargerbargraphindicatorinthevideoscreen.
TheTRIM_POTscreenincludesagaincontrol,whichissetto0.0dB.Inthiscase,a+4dBuinputonanalogleft
channelproduces18dBFSonthevideoscreensbargraphindicator.TheSHOUTcastencodingsoftwareissetto
receivethePCMaudiofromPatchMix(LineIn),whichproducesa18dBindicationontheencodersbargraph
indicator.Notethatmaximumpeakswouldoccasionallyreach9dBontheencoder,whichprovides9dBof
headroom.Thisisthenominallevelsetupfortransmission.

TRITONDIGITALADINSERTIONSOFTWARE
Tosupportanaudiencemeasurementandadmanagementsolutionforpublicradiostreams,NPRplanstowork
withTritonDigital(formerlyAndoMedia)onadigitalsponsorshipsystem.Thesystemwouldusethestream
serverhardware,describedabove,alongwithTritonmediaautomationsoftwaretoinsertsponsorship
announcements.
TheTritondocumentationspecifiesthattwosoundcardsarerequired:onefortheexternalaudioinputanda
secondtoprovidetheinternalannouncementfiles.18However,theSuperServercomputerselectedbyNPR
physicallysupportsonlyasinglePCcard,suchastheEMU0404audiosoundcard.19TheRealtekALC662audio
chiponthecomputermotherboardcanprovidetheannouncementfileplayback.20Astheannouncementfilesare
playeddigitally,theaudioispasseddigitallythroughtheRealtekchipandnodegradationinqualityoccurs.
However,thereisnoprovisionintheTritonsoftwaretoautomaticallyadjusttheloudnessofrecorded
announcements.Thisisapotentialproblemforuniformtransmissionloudness,astheannouncementsare
producedelsewhereunderdifferinglevelstandards,possiblyincludingdynamiccompression.Ideally,Triton
shouldupgradeitssoftwaretoadjustannouncementplaybacklevelstomatchtheexternal(station)audio,in
accordancewithEBUR128.Lackingthat,implementationofactiveloudnessmanagementintheplayback

18

AndoMediaInstallationClientRequirementsandPreparation,AndoMediaGroup,March2,2011.

19

WeunderstandfromTritonengineersthattheiradinsertionsoftwarewaswrittenwiththeintentionofusing
theOrbanOptimodPC1101audiocard(nowtheOptimodPC1211e),whichsupportsexternalandadinsertion
audio.Thisisarelativelylargeincreaseincostforthestreamserverand,ifoncardaudioprocessingisusedto
controlannouncementlevels,wouldalsodynamicallycompressthestationprogramaudio,whichwediscourage.
20

WehavetestedtheonboardchipforoperationwiththeEMUcard,however,wedidnothaveaccesstothe
announcementfilestoverifyoperationtheTritonadinsertionsoftware.WeareadvisedbyTritionstechnical
supportthatthemotherboardaudiochipshouldbecompatiblewiththeirsoftware.
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software,asdiscussedearlier,caneffectivelymoderateundesiredchangesinloudnessasannouncementsare
inserted.Currently,theTritonsoftwarealsocansupportonlyonestreamperserver,whichpreventsdual
streamingatdifferentbitratesorwithdifferentcodecs.

AUDIOCARDREPLACEMENTS
TheEMU0404productisdiscontinued,andCreativehasnodirectreplacementforthemodel.NPRDigitalMedia
followedouradviceandpurchasedsomeremainingcardsatdealers.However,thereisaneedtoidentifyalong
termreplacementforthiscardasadditionalcomputersareimplementsoroldcardsfail.TheOptimodPC1211e
cardisacandidate,whichoffersthecapabilitytomixtheexternalaudioinputandtheinternalaudioforTritonad
insertionsoftware.(Tritonofficialsnotedthattheirsoftwarewaswrittenwiththeintentionofusingthe
OptimodPCcard,whichalsoincludesaprofessionalaudiocompressor/limiter.)However,theOptimodPCcard
costsseveraltimesmorethantheEMUcard,evenwiththeaudiointerface.
ThesearchforasolutiontothepresentcardsconsumerinputgaveusaperspectiveonthedirectionofPCaudio
interfaces.Inourview,audioengineersaremovingawayfromPCcardimplementations,anditwasapparentthat
thechoicesofthesecardshasquicklydiminishedoverthepastcoupleofyears,infavorofexternalaudio
interfaceswithUSBinterconnectiontothePC.USBaudiointerfacesarequiteplentiful,haveveryhighaudio
qualityandcouldpermitmorethanoneaudioinputtothecomputer.
ThereissomeconcernaboutwhetherUSBdevicesarereliableenough,especiallywhenthecomputerisrebooted:
doesitautomaticallyrestarttheaudiointerfaceeverytime?Also,questionshavebeenraisedaboutthepossibility
ofinterruptionstotheaudiodatathroughtheUSBportasotherdevicesusetheportorcomputershardwaredata
bus.Thesearequestionsonwhichwerecommendfurtherstudyforfuturegrowth,andbeforethesupplyofEMU
PCcardsrunsout.

CAUTIONSFORTHESOFTWAREENCODER
ThestreamencodingsoftwareselectedbyNPRDigitalServicesistheNullsoftsWinampStandardmediaplayer
withtheSHOUTcastDSPpluginforstreamencoding.Thissoftware,currentlyinversion5.63fortheplayer,is
availableasafreedownloadatwww.winamp.com.Therearesomeuncertaintieswithusingfreewareforalarge
scalestreamingprojectsuchasNPRs:

Correctingerrorsinthesoftware,oransweringdifficultquestionsmaybedifficultwithouttechnical
supportthatisundercontractualobligationtoNPR;
Thesoftwareisdesignedforusebyindividualuserswhoundertaketheirownlocaldownloads,whichmay
makeupdatestothesoftwareacrosshundredsofremotecomputersmorecumbersome;
Modernaudiocodecsareundercontinualimprovement,andnewversionsareissuedfromtimetotime
thatshouldbeused;theupdatesmaynotbeapparenttoNPRandmoredifficulttopushouttolarge
numbersofremotecomputers.

Fortunately,Winamphasalargeuserbaseandonlinecommunity.(ThereisaProversionofthesoftwarethat
promisestechnicalsupportforcustomers,butaquestionemailedtothemhasremainedunansweredafter10
days.)Itispossiblethatotherswillidentifysoftwareissuesquickly,whichtechnicalsupportmaycorrectonbehalf
ofthecommunity,andsometechnicalquestionsmaybeansweredbyexpertsinthecommunity.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Theauthorsappreciatetheassistanceandcontributionsofthefollowingindividualsandcompanies:
JanNordmann,MaxNeuendorf,andNikolausRettelbach,FraunhoferInstitute
ClaudeGravel,VoiceAgeCorporation
TowsonUniversity,TowsonMD
BobOrbanandGregOgonowski,Orban
MichaelByrnesandWilliamHarrison,ExcaliburElectronics
StaffoftheNPRAudioEngineeringDepartment
ThemembersoftheCodecEvaluationProjectAdvisoryGroup

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