Korean researchers have developed a technology that has made its way into an international standard for immersive audio.
The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) has announced that its ‘sound source location delay’ technology has been officially incorporated into the final draft of the MPEG-I Immersive Audio international standard.
The MPEG-I Immersive Audio standard, developed by the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG), defines next-generation audio for six degrees of freedom (6DoF) spatial sound services, enabling listeners to freely move and interact within 3D audio environments.
Jung Won Kang, director of ETRI’s Media Coding Research Section, said: “This achievement is significant not only because it’s a simple technical proposal, but also because our technology has been recognised as a key component in establishing international standards.
“We will continue to focus on securing audio technology that can lead the world in the immersive media field and on international standardisation efforts.”
This innovation, recognised as the world’s first to implement auditory time lag in virtual environments, is expected to play a pivotal role in VR, the metaverse, gaming, remote education and realistic performance applications.
ETRI’s breakthrough captures the natural time delay between when a sound is produced and perceived, a phenomenon often missing from virtual audio. By compensating for auditory time lag, especially for fast-moving or distant sound sources, the technology delivers a more authentic and immersive auditory experience.
The institute plans to continue advancing ultra-realistic media systems through real-time 3D audio rendering, spatial content generation and low-latency sound compression research.
Image credit: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI)