Surround sound introduced to mobile phones

Coding Technologies' MPEG Surround software development kits (SDKs) for embedded platforms are designed to bring true surround sound to the mobile phone.

Coding Technologies, a provider of audio compression technology for digital broadcasting, mobile music and the internet, has released MPEG Surround software development kits (SDKs) for embedded platforms to bring true surround sound to the mobile phone.

These new SDKs combine Coding Technologies' MPEG-4 aacPlus, the world's most efficient audio codec, with the newly standardised MPEG Surround compression technique.

Coding Technologies provides implementations for the most commonly used platforms such as TI C55/64/67, ARM, ADI Blackfin, and MIPS.

Based on a new paradigm for multi-channel audio coding, MPEG Surround is the only multi-channel encoding system with built-in backward compatibility to stereo.

The additional enabler for mobile surround sound is the binaural decoding mode available in MPEG Surround which allows for a high-quality surround sound experience on stereo headphones while keeping complexity low.

It offers the ability for music and movie download services to bring the improved quality of surround sound to portable players as well as to multi-channel speaker systems set-up in the home environment and in the car.

This can be achieved without any compromise of the user experience, even for those using older players limited to stereo playback.

"MPEG Surround is a great technology which is also highly suited to the mobile world where more and more people are using their phone or other types of portable player as their music device of choice", said Martin Dietz, CEO and President, Coding Technologies.

"We have always seen audio quality as a defining factor in the future of consumer services".

"Now that we are able to bring the surround sound experience that we have come to expect in the home to a mobile phone, we are increasingly looking at mobile as an area offering enormous potential for further development".

"The incorporation of surround sound on portable devices is made possible by the low overheads associated with MPEG Surround data".

"This technology advantage means that a surround sound bit stream can be put onto a storage-constrained device without any penalty in output quality and with very little loss in device storage levels".

"Our dedicated team has worked hard to ensure the quickest possible availability of this amazing technology", added Dietz.

"As the focus on mobile applications continues to gather momentum globally, this latest development opens up a whole new mobile experience for the user to enjoy".

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