Dolby® Laboratories will feature Dolby Headphone technology at this year’s CEDIA EXPO 2000, September 6-10 in Indianapolis, Indiana. The new technology is a unique signal processing system that is designed to enable conventional stereo headphones to realistically portray the sound of a five-speaker playback system. Dolby Headphone’s room modeling algorithm is performed by a digital signal processing system developed by Lake Technology.

‘Dolby Headphone technology is an exciting new addition to the multichannel audio industry,’ said Dennis Staats, Manager of Technical Marketing for Dolby Laboratories. ‘The technology allows listeners to enjoy 5.1 multichannel sound privately and in any environment with a pair of regular headphones. Dolby Headphone is the home theatre system you can wear.’

Dolby Headphone technology can produce multichannel sound from sources that include Dolby Surround, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Surround EX™, PCM, MLP-packed PCM and MPEG technology. Stereo sources such as MiniDiscs, CDs, and MP3 files are said to sound more realistic with Dolby Headphone technology by electronically imparting each audio channel to mimic speakers properly placed in a carefully defined acoustic environment.

Regular stereo formats deliver left and right sounds directly beside you, while center sounds appear within your head. This ‘in-head’ effect is unrealistic, and can cause listener fatigue. Dolby Headphone, however, presents a much more natural, out-of-head sound, in either stereo or mulitchannel formats.

Developed by Lake Technology and Dolby Laboratories, the technology is being licensed by Dolby to consumer electronics manufacturers to be included in almost any product that provides a stereo headphone jack. Such products include digital cable and satellite set-top boxes, VCRs, DVD-Video and DVD-Audio players, conventional and digital TV receivers, personal and laptop computers, portable stereos, game consoles, A/V surround decoders and receivers, auto sound systems and multimedia speaker systems. Currently, more than 38,000 computer units equipped with Dolby Headphone technology have been sold within the first few months of distribution by such electronics manufacturers as Hitachi, NEC, ADI, and others.