MPEG spatial audio object coding - the ISO/MPEG standard for efficient coding of interactive audio scenes

In 2007, the ISO/MPEG Audio standardization group started a new work item on efficient coding of sound scenes comprising several audio objects by parametric coding techniques. Finalized in the summer of 2010, the resulting MPEG Spatial Audio Object Coding (SAOC) specification allows the representation of such scenes at bit rates commonly used for coding of mono or stereo sound. At the decoder side, each object can be interactively rendered, supporting applications like user-controlled music remixing and spatial teleconferencing. This paper summarizes the results of the standardization process, provides an overview of MPEG SAOC technology and illustrates its performance by means of the results of the recent verification tests. The test includes operation modes for several typical application scenarios that take advantage of object-based processing.