AES New York 2017's Spatial Audio Track Explores New Horizons in Immersive and 3-D Audio

	Michael Kelly, AES New York spatial audio track co-chair

The state of the art in audio is ever-expanding -- literally, as evidenced by the stunning advances in 3-D audio and immersive sound that attendees of the 143rd International Audio Engineering Society Convention will be able to experience at its wide variety of Spatial Audio Track events. It'll all take place at the upcoming AES New York Convention, October 18 to 21, at the Jacob Javits Center in New York.

"3-D audio, with its ability to reproduce height as well as width and depth, enables music listeners, moviegoers, TV viewers, and gamers to experience never-before-possible levels of sonic involvement -- and excitement!" says Michael Kelly, 143rd AES Spatial Audio Track co-chair along with Steve Martz. "Our expert presenters will be digging deep into the technologies involved in creating immersive audio and show people how they can stay ahead of the curve in this rapidly evolving professional audio segment."

If the proliferation of all the new 3-D audio formats seems daunting, have no fear: the "Crash Course in 3-D Audio" seminar will explain the latest 3-D audio concepts, formats, and technologies, from Dolby Atmos to channel-based audio, from binaural to Auro 3D and more.

Oculus Research has been on the cutting edge of virtual reality technology since its inception. In "Perceptual Thresholds of Spatial Audio Latency for Dynamic Virtual Auditory Environments," the company's Ravish Mehra will address one of the key factors in maintaining the VR illusion: when the listener moves, updated audio information has to be delivered to his or her ears and the technology for doing this is far from simple. Mehra will explain Oculus' latest techniques for minimizing spatial audio latency (SAL) in creating more believable virtual audio environments.

Electronic music legends Kraftwerk created electronic pop music in the 1970s and remain aural pioneers today, as evidenced by their recent Kraftwerk: 3D The Catalogue Blu-ray release. Tom Ammermann of New Audio Technology GmbH will demonstrate this and the new Blu-ray disc from German house duo Booka Shade and show how immersive/3-D audio formats like Dolby Atmos can create fantastic spatial listening adventures.

How can home listeners best experience 3-D audio? "Spatial Audio -- Practical Immersive Audio at Home" will answer this question by looking at everything from channel-based home entertainment systems to different types of soundbars, multi-room wireless speakers, up-firing speakers, and even ad-hoc arrays of mobile phones!

In "The State of the Art of Binaural Audio for Loudspeakers and Headphones," Edgar Choueiri, professor and director of the 3D Audio and Applied Acoustics Lab, Princeton University -- who will also deliver the Keynote Speech during the AES New York Opening Ceremonies -- will describe the challenges of binaural audio through headphones (BAH) and loudspeakers (BAL), recent solutions to these challenges, and the state of the art of binaural processing and content development tools, with a focus on BACCH 3D Sound processing. Further discussion and demonstrations will address BACCH-HP headphones processing, BACCH-dSP software and more.

Additional Spatial Audio Track events will include sessions on the similarities and differences between stereo and spatial audio production; producing, performing, and publishing music in 3-D in a variety of genres; a binaural audio listening session; and much more.

Additional information about these and other AES Spatial Audio Track events is available at http://www.aes.org/events/143/spatialaudio/.

Register now and make plans to join AES New York 2017. The convention will be co-located with the independent and adjacent NAB Show New York 2017. Registration, at any level, for AES New York 2017 will give attendees access to the NAB Show New York exhibition floor and the content in the NAB Show New York's Core Package (a $75 value).

Register now, upgrade to the All Access registration for the Maximum Audio experience, including the Spatial Audio Track, and reserve housing for the 143rd AES Convention at http://www.aesshow.com.