AES Standards News Blog

AES62-2011 AES standard for audio connectors - Modified XLR-3 Connector for Digital Audio, has been withdrawn

Withdrawl was unanimously recommended by SC-05-02 because no manufacturers have implemented the standard and it is confusing to have the standard suggest otherwise. The standard will remain available via the AES Standards Store, but copies are marked as withdrawn.

The fall meetings of the AES Standards Working Groups have been scheduled for October, prior to the AES fall convention.  The standards meetings will all be virtual.  The working group meetings have been scheduled for 10 - 14 October. The plenary session where individual working groups report their progress in summary form will be on 24 October.

All standards meetings will be held using Zoom and are open to all interested parties.  Membership in AESSC working groups is open to all individuals.  AES membership is not required.

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The Call for Comment on DRAFT AES69-XXXX, " AES standard for file exchange – Spatial acoustic data file format " was published 2022-07-15.

Binaural listening is growing fast, because of growing sales in smartphones, tablets and other individual entertainment systems. The lack of a standard for the exchange of head-related transfer functions (HRTF) means each company keeps its binaural capture and rendering algorithms private. 3D audio is arising, and binaural listening could be the very first 3D audio vector with sufficient fidelity of HRTF.

The use of convolution-based reverberation processors in 3D virtual audio environments has grown with the increase in available computing power. Convolution-based reverberators guarantee an authentic and natural listening experience, but also depend on the acoustic quality of the applied spatial room impulse response (SRIR).

With a standardized file format for HRTF and SRIR data, each company can contribute its best algorithms, providing good personalized capture and/or rendering, allowing the consumer to choose a combination of technologies for the best quality of experience.

This document standardizes a file format to exchange space-related acoustic data, such as binaural listening parameters in the form of head related transfer functions. The format is scalable to match the available rendering process and is designed to include source materials from different databases.

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Some reports of the spring AES Standards Working Group meetings are now online.

SC-02-01 on Digital audio measurement
SC-02-02 on Digital audio interfaces
SC-04-03 on Loudspeaker modeling and measurement
SC-05-02 on Audio connectors

Additional reports will be posted as they become available.

View the reports here

The slides from Jeff Berrymans recent webinar "The AES70 Object Model and How To Use It" are available for download.  These are copyrighted and are for individual educational use only. Reproduction or any other use requires written permission of the AES Standards Manager.

Download a copy here

 Jeff Berryman, chair of AES Standards Task Group SC-02-12-L will present "The AES70 Object Model and How to Use It".  The webinar will be on May 31st from 12:00 to 1:00PM Eastern US time.  Jeff has deep knowledge of AES70, having chaired the group responsible for its development since its inception.  

Some reports of the Fall AES Standards Working Group meetings are now online.

SC-02-01 on Digital Audio Measurements
SC-02-12 on Audio Applications of Networks
SC-03-12 on Forensic Audio
SC-05-05 on Grounding and EMC Practices

Additional reports will be posted as they become available.

View the reports here

The spring meetings of the AES Standards Working Groups have been scheduled for May, prior to the AES Spring convention.  The standards meetings will all be virtual.  The working group meetings have been scheduled for 2 - 6 May. The plenary session where individual working groups report their progress in summary form will be on 16 May.

All standards meetings will be held using Zoom and are open to all interested parties.  Membership in AESSC working groups is open to all individuals.  AES membership is not required.

More Information

AES76-2022, "AES standard for audio forensics - Speech Collection Guidelines for Speaker Recognition: Interviewing at a Temporary Location" has been published on 2022-03-19.

This document specifies recommended practices for recording audio intended for use in forensic speaker recognition analyses, focusing on doing so at a temporary, non-laboratory location by possibly a non-professional in the forensic sciences.  It includes recommendations for the physical preparation of the location, selection of appropriate recording hardware and audio formats, and possible methods for interviewers to elicit the desired type and amount of speech from subjects.  It does not cover the methods used to analyze the resulting recordings and does not deal with details related to the handling, transmission, storage, or preservation of the collected data but does include a checklist to aid in the process.

This work was done in the SC-03-12 working group under the leadership of Marisa Dery.

For a preview and to purchase this document:

AES75-2022, "AES  standard for acoustics – Measuring loudspeaker maximum linear sound levels using noise" has been published on 2022-03-04.

This standard details a procedure for measuring maximum linear sound levels of a loudspeaker system or driver using a test signal called M-Noise. In order to measure maximum linear sound levels meaningfully and repeatably, a signal is required whose RMS and peak levels as functions of frequency have been shown to be representative of program material. Various existing standards define noise-based test signals which, like M-Noise, have incorporated the knowledge that typical program material has a diminishing RMS level with increasing frequency, but M-Noise uniquely also features a relatively constant peak level as a function of frequency, so that the crest factor (peak level – RMS level) increases with frequency, which an analysis on a large variety of music and other content has revealed is an important additional characteristic of typical program material. The specified procedure determines a loudspeaker’s maximum linear sound levels by incrementally increasing the Playback Level of M-Noise until a stop condition is met: either an unacceptable change in the transfer function’s magnitude or an unacceptable change in the coherence of the transfer function.

For a preview and to purchase this document: