NORMALIZING THE LOUDNESS OF AUDIO RECORDINGS

摘要

A method and apparatus normalizes the playback loudness of stored sound recordings to avoid objectionable variations in perceived loudness between different sound recordings at the same volume setting. In an exemplary processing method, a stored sound recording is processed to determine its loudness. That loudness, or some value derived from it, is then used to set the playback gain used for playing back the sound recording. Thus, for a given volume setting, the playback gain can be set lower for louder recordings, and higher for quieter recordings. In one or more exemplary embodiments, sound recordings are processed as received, or at least some time in advance of their first playback, so that a loudness-based gain compensation parameter can be calculated and stored for them. The corresponding stored gain control parameter can then be selected and used responsive to selecting a particular sound recording for playback.