Some embodiments of the invention are directed to enabling a user to easily identify the frequency range(s) at which sound masking occurs, and addressing the masking, if desired. In this respect, the extent to which a first stem is masked by one or more second stems in a frequency range may depend not only on the absolute value of the energy of the second stem(s) in the frequency range, but also on the relative energy of the first stem with respect to the second stem(s) in the frequency range. Accordingly, some embodiments are directed to modeling sound masking as a function of the energy of the stem being masked and of the relative energy of the masked stem with respect to the masking stem(s) in the frequency range, such as by modeling sound masking as loudness loss, a value indicative of the reduction in loudness of a stem of interest caused by the presence of one or more other stems in a frequency range.

In an audio encoder, for audio content received in a source audio format, default gains are generated based on a default dynamic range compression (DRC) curve, and non-default gains are generated for a non-default gain profile. Based on the default gains and non-default gains, differential gains are generated. An audio signal comprising the audio content, the default DRC curve, and differential gains is generated. In an audio decoder, the default DRC curve and the differential gains are identified from the audio signal. Default gains are re-generated based on the default DRC curve. Based on the combination of the re-generated default gains and the differential gains, operations are performed on the audio content extracted from the audio signal.

A limiter system for an active speaker may include at least one lowpass filter configured to receive an input signal and output a signal lower than a crossover frequency, at least one highpass filter, configured to receive an input signal and output a signal higher than the crossover frequency, a first allpass filter configured to adjust the phase of the signal lower than the crossover frequency, a second allpass filter configured to adjust the phase of the signal higher than the crossover frequency, a first limiter, configured to receive and limit the signal from the first allpass filter, a second limiter, configured to receive and limit the signal from the second allpass filter, and a mixer, configured to mix the signal lower from the first limiter and the signal from the second limiter.

The present disclosure relates to processing a plurality of audio signals. A device receives the plurality of audio signals in the frequency domain and determining an overall attenuation multiplier based on the plurality of audio signals and an overall lookup table that relates decibel values to different overall attenuation multipliers. The device determines an attenuation vector comprising a plurality of bin-specific attenuation multipliers, each bin-specific attenuation multiplier respectively corresponding to a different frequency bin of the plurality of frequency bins. The device scales each bin-specific attenuation value in the attenuation vector with the overall attenuation multiplier, and edits each of the audio signals based on the scaled bin-specific attenuation values in the attenuation vector.

A method for reducing gain for audio amplification by an audio system having a tweeter channel, an optional midrange channel, and a woofer channel. Gain of the woofer channel is reduced simultaneously with reducing gain of the tweeter channel, both responsive to detecting the same instance of overloading (overdriving) the woofer channel. Other aspects are also described and claimed.

A cochlear implant is disclosed in an embodiment. The implant includes a signal level detector configured to determine a total signal level of an incoming acoustic signal and a processing unit configured to determine, in accordance with the determined total signal level, an intermediate knee point for each of a plurality of frequency bands. The implant includes a bandpass filters configured to generate a plurality of band limited audio signals in dependence upon the incoming acoustic signal, each band limited acoustic signal representing an associated audio frequency range relating to at least one electrode of a plurality of an implanted electrode array of the cochlear implant. The implant includes a pulse controller configured to deliver electrical stimulation signals to the plurality of electrodes of the implanted electrode array based on the generated signals and the determined intermediate knee point corresponding to the frequency range.

The present document describes a dynamic range control unit (210) configured to apply dynamic range control, referred to as DRC, to an audio signal (211). The DRC unit (210) is configured to downsample a subband signal (212) derived from the audio signal (211), to provide a downsampled subband signal (321), to determine a DRC gain (329) based on the downsampled subband signal (321), and to apply the DRC gain (329) to the subband signal (212), to provide a compressed subband signal (213) of a compressed audio signal (214).

An audio signal processing apparatus that includes a band division section, an analysis section, a gain adjustment amount calculation section, and a gain adjustment section. The band division section is configured to generate a resonance in-band signal by band division on an audio input signal. The analysis section is configured to extract an amount of features from each of the resonance in-band signal and the input signal. The gain adjustment amount calculation section is configured to calculate a gain adjustment amount for a resonance frequency band in the input signal, the gain adjustment amount being calculated based on the amount of features of the resonance in-band signal and the amount of features of the input signal. The gain adjustment section is configured to perform a gain adjustment on the resonance frequency band in the input signal based on the gain adjustment amount.

A limiter system for an active speaker may include at least one lowpass filter configured to receive an input signal and output a signal lower than a crossover frequency, at least one highpass filter, configured to receive an input signal and output a signal higher than the crossover frequency, a first allpass filter configured to adjust the phase of the signal lower than the crossover frequency, a second allpass filter configured to adjust the phase of the signal higher than the crossover frequency, a first limiter, configured to receive and limit the signal from the first allpass filter, a second limiter, configured to receive and limit the signal from the second allpass filter, and a mixer, configured to mix the signal lower from the first limiter and the signal from the second limiter.

The invention relates to a hearing aid a cochlear implant comprising a) at least one input transducer for capturing incoming sound and for generating electric audio signals which represent frequency bands of the incoming sound, b) a sound processor which is configured to analyze and to process the electric audio signals, c) a transmitter that sends the processed electric audio signals, d) a receiver/stimulator, which receives the processed electric audio signals from the transmitter and converts the processed electric audio signals into electric pulses, e) an electrode array embedded in the cochlear comprising a number of electrodes for stimulating the cochlear nerve with said electric pulses, and f) a control unit configured to control the distribution of said electric pulses to the number of said electrodes. The control unit is configured to distribute said electric pulses to the number of said electrodes by applying one out of a plurality of different coding schemes, and wherein the applied coding scheme is selected according to characteristics of the incoming sound.