Object-based audio: Opportunities for improved listening experience and increased listener involvement

A new television audio system based on the MPEG-H Audio standard is being designed and tested to offer interactive and immersive sound, employing the standard's audio objects, height channels, and higher order Ambisonics features. Object-based interactive audio offers users the ability to personalize their listening experience, setting their preferred language and dialogue level, or selecting elements to hear their home team or listen to their favorite race driver's radio. A fourstage process is introduced for implementing the complete system in TV networks. Additionally, the plant design, creative, and operational implications of producing content are discussed, based on the design and field testing of the system. Consumer reproduction implications are also presented, such as a 3D Soundbar prototype, the control of loudness in the system, and rendering for playback on both traditional and new media devices. © Copyright 2015 by SMPTE.