Low Complexity Methods for Robust Stereo-to-Mono Down-mixing

Maben P, Borß C, Edler B, Fuchs G. Low Complexity Methods for Robust Stereo-to-Mono Down-mixing. In: AES Convention 152. Audio Engineering Society; 2022. Paper 10578. Available from: https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=21691

@inproceedings{Maben2022_21691,
  author = {Maben, Pallavi and Borß, Christian and Edler, Bernd and Fuchs, Guillaume},
  title = {{Low Complexity Methods for Robust Stereo-to-Mono Down-mixing}},
  booktitle = {AES Convention 152},
  note = {Paper 10578},
  year = {2022},
  month = may,
  publisher = {Audio Engineering Society},
  url = {https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=21691}
}

TY  - CPAPER
TI  - Low Complexity Methods for Robust Stereo-to-Mono Down-mixing
AU  - Maben, Pallavi
AU  - Borß, Christian
AU  - Edler, Bernd
AU  - Fuchs, Guillaume
T2  - AES Convention 152
M1  - Paper 10578
PY  - 2022
DA  - 2022/05/06
UR  - https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=21691
PB  - Audio Engineering Society
LA  - en
AB  - Stereo to mono down-mix is a key component of parametric stereo coding to drastically reduce the bit rate, but at the same time it is also an irreversible process that is a potential source of undesirable artifacts. This paper aims to reduce typical distortions induced by down-mixing, such as signal cancellation, comb filtering or unnatural instabilities. Two down-mixing methods are designed with different trade-offs between natural timbre and energy preservation based on simple rules that ensure low complexity. The results of a listening test show that both the proposed methods have a substantial advantage over the passive down-mix, while being very competitive compared to more computationally demanding active down-mixing approaches. The proposed methods are, therefore, particularly well suited to low complexity stereo coding schemes, such as those required for communication applications.
ER  -