Neural Audio Corporation, a leading provider of digital signal processing technology for the broadcast industry, and iBiquity Digital Corporation, the sole developer and licensor of HD Radio technology, have approved the Neural Audio 5.1 surround sound digital audio system as compatible with its HD Radio(TM) System. With this approval, Neural is the first spatial audio codec available for HD Radio use.
Neural Audio, teaming with Harris Corporation’s Broadcast Communications Division, has developed the 5225 Mix-Edit Transcoder 5.1 surround sound system, which is scaleable and ensures backward and forward compatibility allowing analog, digital, lossy, linear, stereo, and 5.1 to co-exist in the broadcast environment. The Neural 5225 enables broadcasters to mix, edit and save 5.1 content via Neural’s proprietary “watermarking” system on existing 2.0 stereo equipment. With Neural technology, reception or input at the receiver end of the content is selectively and automatically post-processed and “up-mixed” by the Neural Audio Spatial Environment Engine (SEE) to the available number of speakers (from 2 to 256 channels) in the automotive environment.
HD Radio technology is the digital broadcasting system for terrestrial radio, and is the only digital technology authorized by the FCC for broadcasting in the AM and FM band in the United States. iBiquity has developed and patented HD Radio technology that transmits digital audio and data alongside existing AM and FM analog signals, allowing listeners to enjoy CD-quality sound and virtually eliminating the static, hiss, and pops associated with today’s analog radio signals. Nearly 300 radio stations in more than 100 U.S. markets across 38 states (reaching 67 percent of the U.S. population) have already licensed HD Radio technology.