Orban Introduces Free Loudness/Level Metering Software
Tempe, AZ, April 17, 2008 — Orban, a worldwide leader in audio processing for AM, FM, TV, and Internet broadcasting today announced that the first public beta of Orban Loudness Meter software for Windows XP and Vista is now available for free download from www.orban.com/meter.
This is the first of a family of Orban meters. Future paid versions will offer upgraded features including logging, surround monitoring, and oversampled peak measurements that accurately indicate the peak level of the audio after D/A conversion.
This software simultaneously displays instantaneous peaks, VU, PPM, CBS Technology Center loudness, and ITU BS.1770 loudness. All meters include peak-hold functionality that makes the peak indications of the meters easy to see.
The software accepts two-channel stereo inputs. The VU and PPM meters are split to indicate the left and right channels. The PPM meter also displays the instantaneous peak values of the L and R digital samples.
The CBS meter is a "short-term" loudness meter intended to display the details of moment-to-moment loudness with dynamics similar to a VU meter. It uses the Jones & Torick algorithm developed at the CBS Technology Center and published in 1981 in the SMPTE Journal. Created using Orban-developed modeling software, the DSP implementation typically matches the original analog meter within 0.5 dB on sinewaves, tone bursts and noise.
The Jones & Torick algorithm improves upon the original loudness measurement algorithm developed by CBS researchers in the late 1960s. Its foundation is psychoacoustic studies done at CBS Laboratories over a two year period by Torick and the late Benjamin Bauer. After surveying existing equal-loudness contour curves and finding them inapplicable to measuring the loudness of broadcasts, Torick and Bauer organized listening tests that resulted in a new set of equal-loudness curves based on octave-wide noise reproduced by calibrated loudspeakers in a semireverberant 16 x 14 x 8 room, which is representative of a room in which broadcasts are normally heard. In 1966, they published this work in the IEEE Transactions on Audio and Electroacoustics, along with results from other tests whose goal was to model the loudness integration time constants of human hearing.
In 2006, the ITU-R published Recommendation ITU-R BS.1770: "Algorithms to measure audio programme loudness and true-peak audio level." Developed by G.A. Soulodre, the BS.1770 loudness meter uses a frequency-weighted r.m.s. measurement intended to be integrated over several seconds -- perhaps as long as an entire program segment. As such, it is considered a "long-term" loudness measurement because it does not take into account the loudness integration time constants of human hearing, as does the CBS meter.
Orban's BS.1770 loudness meter uses the Leq(RLB2) algorithm as specified in the Recommendation. This applies frequency weighting before the r.m.s. integrator. The frequency weighting is a series connection of pre-filter and RLB weighting curves. The Orban meter precisely implements equations (1) and (2) in this document by using a rolling integrator whose integration time is user-adjustable from one to ten seconds.
Additionally, the Orban meter offers an experimental long-term loudness indication derived by post-processing the CBS algorithm's output. This uses a relatively simple algorithm that attempts to mimic a skilled operator's mental integration of the peak swings of a meter with "VU-like" dynamics. The operator will concentrate most on the highest indications but will tend to ignore a single high peak that is atypical of the others.
According to the company's Vice President and Chief Engineer, Bob Orban, researchers have long been curious about the Jones & Torick meter but been unable to evaluate it and compare it with other meters. Orban developed this software because the company believed it would be useful to practicing sound engineers and researchers and also because Orban is using it in its new Optimod 8585 Surround Audio Processor. Thanks to this free software, engineers and scientists will now have the opportunity to easily compare the CBS algorithm with others, including the BS.1770 Recommendation.
The Orban software runs on Windows XP and Vista computers having 1.5 GHz or faster Intel or Intel-compatible processors that implement the SSE2 instruction set. The software can be driven by any installed Windows sound device.
Orban Forward-Looking Statements
This news release may contain "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Management's anticipation of future events is based upon assumptions regarding levels of competition, research and development results, raw material markets, the markets in which the company operates, and stability of the regulatory environment. Any of these assumptions could prove inaccurate; and therefore, there can be no assurance that the forward-looking information will prove to be accurate.
About Orban
Orban is a manufacturer of high-quality digital and analog audio processing, transmission encoding, and noise reduction equipment. Orban is in the market for radio, TV and Internet audio processing. As technology evolves, Orban continues to innovate with state-of-the-art audio processing products for DAB, DTV and streaming media. The Company purchased Orban® in May of 2000. Orban was founded in 1970 by Bob Orban, who is the world's foremost expert in transmission audio processing for broadcast. Orban leads the industry in the design and manufacture of audio processors for radio, television and Internet broadcasting. Recognized for its standard-setting Optimod® digital audio processors and the Opticodec® codecs, the Orban name has become synonymous with reliable, high performance products. Today, its versatile audio processing equipment and codecs are the products of choice in fast-paced production environments worldwide.
For more information contact David Rusch at phone +1 (480) 403-8300, fax +1 (480) 403-8301 or e-mail: drusch@orban.com. Information is also available at www.orban.com and www.orban-europe.com.