Audio objects are associated with positional metadata. A received downmix signal comprises downmix channels that are linear combinations of one or more audio objects and are associated with respective positional locators. In a first aspect, the downmix signal, the positional metadata and frequency-dependent object gains are received. An audio object is reconstructed by applying the object gain to an upmix of the downmix signal in accordance with coefficients based on the positional metadata and the positional locators. In a second aspect, audio objects have been encoded together with at least one bed channel positioned at a positional locator of a corresponding downmix channel. The decoding system receives the downmix signal and the positional metadata of the audio objects. A bed channel is reconstructed by suppressing the content representing audio objects from the corresponding downmix channel on the basis of the positional locator of the corresponding downmix channel.

Audio objects are associated with positional metadata. A received downmix signal comprises downmix channels that are linear combinations of one or more audio objects and are associated with respective positional locators. In a first aspect, the downmix signal, the positional metadata and frequency-dependent object gains are received. An audio object is reconstructed by applying the object gain to an upmix of the downmix signal in accordance with coefficients based on the positional metadata and the positional locators. In a second aspect, audio objects have been encoded together with at least one bed channel positioned at a positional locator of a corresponding downmix channel. The decoding system receives the downmix signal and the positional metadata of the audio objects. A bed channel is reconstructed by suppressing the content representing audio objects from the corresponding downmix channel on the basis of the positional locator of the corresponding downmix channel.

A method for encoding a high frequency signal includes determining a signal type of a high frequency signal of a current frame, smoothing and scaling time envelopes of the high frequency signal of the current frame and obtaining time envelopes of the high frequency signal of the current frame that require to be encoded when the high frequency signal of the current frame is a non-transient signal and a high frequency signal of the previous frame is a transient signal, and quantizing and encoding the time envelopes of the high frequency signal of the current frame that require to be encoded, and frequency information and signal type information of the high frequency signal of the current frame.

A method for encoding a high frequency signal includes determining a signal type of a high frequency signal of a current frame, smoothing and scaling time envelopes of the high frequency signal of the current frame and obtaining time envelopes of the high frequency signal of the current frame that require to be encoded when the high frequency signal of the current frame is a non-transient signal and a high frequency signal of the previous frame is a transient signal, and quantizing and encoding the time envelopes of the high frequency signal of the current frame that require to be encoded, and frequency information and signal type information of the high frequency signal of the current frame.

When compressing an HOA data frame representation, a gain control (15, 151) is applied for each channel signal before it is perceptually encoded (16). The gain values are transferred in a differential manner as side information. However, for starting decoding of such streamed compressed HOA data frame representation absolute gain values are required, which should be coded with a minimum number of bits. For determining such lowest integer number (β.sub.e) of bits the HOA data frame representation (C(k)) is rendered in spatial domain to virtual loudspeaker signals lying on a unit sphere, followed by normalisation of the HOA data frame representation (C(k)). Then the lowest integer number of bits is set to

β.sub.e=┌log.sub.2(┌log.sub.2(√{square root over (K.sub.MAX)}.Math.O)┐+1)┐.

When compressing an HOA data frame representation, a gain control (15, 151) is applied for each channel signal before it is perceptually encoded (16). The gain values are transferred in a differential manner as side information. However, for starting decoding of such streamed compressed HOA data frame representation absolute gain values are required, which should be coded with a minimum number of bits. For determining such lowest integer number (β.sub.e) of bits the HOA data frame representation (C(k)) is rendered in spatial domain to virtual loudspeaker signals lying on a unit sphere, followed by normalisation of the HOA data frame representation (C(k)). Then the lowest integer number of bits is set to

β.sub.e=┌log.sub.2(┌log.sub.2(√{square root over (K.sub.MAX)}.Math.O)┐+1)┐.

A method and an apparatus for processing a temporal envelope of an audio signal, and an encoder are disclosed. When multiple temporal envelopes are solved, continuity of signal energy can be well maintained, and in addition, complexity of calculating a temporal envelope is reduced. The method includes: obtaining a high-band signal of the current frame audio signal according to the received current frame audio signal; dividing the high-band signal of the current frame signal into M subframes according to a predetermined temporal envelope quantity M, where M is an integer that is greater than or equal to 2; calculating a temporal envelope of each of the subframes; performing windowing on the first subframe of the M subframes and the last subframe of the M subframes by using an asymmetric window function; and performing windowing on a subframe except the first subframe and the last subframe of the M subframes.

A method and an apparatus for processing a temporal envelope of an audio signal, and an encoder are disclosed. When multiple temporal envelopes are solved, continuity of signal energy can be well maintained, and in addition, complexity of calculating a temporal envelope is reduced. The method includes: obtaining a high-band signal of the current frame audio signal according to the received current frame audio signal; dividing the high-band signal of the current frame signal into M subframes according to a predetermined temporal envelope quantity M, where M is an integer that is greater than or equal to 2; calculating a temporal envelope of each of the subframes; performing windowing on the first subframe of the M subframes and the last subframe of the M subframes by using an asymmetric window function; and performing windowing on a subframe except the first subframe and the last subframe of the M subframes.

Methods and audio processing units for generating an object based audio program including conditional rendering metadata corresponding to at least one object channel of the program, where the conditional rendering metadata is indicative of at least one rendering constraint, based on playback speaker array configuration, which applies to each corresponding object channel, and methods for rendering audio content determined by such a program, including by rendering content of at least one audio channel of the program in a manner compliant with each applicable rendering constraint in response to at least some of the conditional rendering metadata. Rendering of a selected mix of content of the program may provide an immersive experience.

Methods and audio processing units for generating an object based audio program including conditional rendering metadata corresponding to at least one object channel of the program, where the conditional rendering metadata is indicative of at least one rendering constraint, based on playback speaker array configuration, which applies to each corresponding object channel, and methods for rendering audio content determined by such a program, including by rendering content of at least one audio channel of the program in a manner compliant with each applicable rendering constraint in response to at least some of the conditional rendering metadata. Rendering of a selected mix of content of the program may provide an immersive experience.