Today we left Berlin and traveled to Erfurt, Germany. After a four hour bus ride through the German countryside, we arrived at the Fraunhofer Institute. The Fraunhofer Institute is well known for developing the MP3 file, in addition to many other technological advances. We watched a brief presentation on the Fraunhofer Institute and then they showed us four different audio demos.
For the first demonstration, we went into an anechoic chamber inside the institute. An anechoic chamber is a room that uses absorptive padding to block all sound reflections and reverberation. Our host, Daniel, played two different sound files on the planar speakers. One was a pop song while the other was a news announcement. The planar speakers are directional enough to send the sound only to one area of the room. So when walking from one end to the other, the sound of the song disappeared and the news announcement slowly went up to full volume.
The next demonstration was a project Fraunhofer is developing with Audi's audio systems. They had studied how an orchestra sounds in a concert hall. Using wave field synthesis they were able to replicate that sound within the car. They placed over 60 speakers in the Audi that were powered by amplifiers in the back. He played a variety of music and sounds within the car and the result was incredible. Unfortunately, this exact technology is not yet available commercially, because placing 60+ speakers in the car required removal of the airbags.. However, they do currently have a 24 speaker version of this technology that is available to the public.
The last two demonstrations we did involved planar speakers in a 5.1 home surround sound setting and wave field synthesis in a studio setting. In the studio setting, they were able to isolate the vocal track and move it all around the room using the various speakers. They were also able to play the sound of an audience in a stadium. Due to the 3D audio effect, it felt like we were actually in the middle of a soccer arena. As with the previous demonstration, the results were very impressive. The Fraunhofer Institute is continuing to lead the way for technological advancements in the audio field.
After we departed from the institute, we took the bus back to Erfurt. We stayed in a smaller hotel by the train station and prepared to travel to Vienna, Austria the next day.
-Tim Rencken
Entertainment Industry Studies Major, 2017
For the first demonstration, we went into an anechoic chamber inside the institute. An anechoic chamber is a room that uses absorptive padding to block all sound reflections and reverberation. Our host, Daniel, played two different sound files on the planar speakers. One was a pop song while the other was a news announcement. The planar speakers are directional enough to send the sound only to one area of the room. So when walking from one end to the other, the sound of the song disappeared and the news announcement slowly went up to full volume.
The next demonstration was a project Fraunhofer is developing with Audi's audio systems. They had studied how an orchestra sounds in a concert hall. Using wave field synthesis they were able to replicate that sound within the car. They placed over 60 speakers in the Audi that were powered by amplifiers in the back. He played a variety of music and sounds within the car and the result was incredible. Unfortunately, this exact technology is not yet available commercially, because placing 60+ speakers in the car required removal of the airbags.. However, they do currently have a 24 speaker version of this technology that is available to the public.
The last two demonstrations we did involved planar speakers in a 5.1 home surround sound setting and wave field synthesis in a studio setting. In the studio setting, they were able to isolate the vocal track and move it all around the room using the various speakers. They were also able to play the sound of an audience in a stadium. Due to the 3D audio effect, it felt like we were actually in the middle of a soccer arena. As with the previous demonstration, the results were very impressive. The Fraunhofer Institute is continuing to lead the way for technological advancements in the audio field.
After we departed from the institute, we took the bus back to Erfurt. We stayed in a smaller hotel by the train station and prepared to travel to Vienna, Austria the next day.
-Tim Rencken
Entertainment Industry Studies Major, 2017