TECHNOLOGY

The present invention pertains generally to processing audio signals and pertains more specifically to techniques that may be used to applying dynamic range control and other types of audio processing operations to audio signals in any of a wide variety of playback environments.

BACKGROUND

The increasing popularity of media consumer devices has created new opportunities and challenges for the creators and distributors of media content for playback on those devices, as well as for the designers and manufacturers of the devices. Many consumer devices are capable of playing back a broad range of media content types and formats including those often associated with high-quality, wide bandwidth and wide dynamic range audio content for HDTV, Blu-ray or DVD. Media processing devices may be used to play back this type of audio content either on their own internal acoustic transducers or on external transducers such as headphones; however, they generally cannot reproduce this content with consistent loudness and intelligibility across varying media format and content types.

The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section. Similarly, issues identified with respect to one or more approaches should not assume to have been recognized in any prior art on the basis of this section, unless otherwise indicated.

