BBC R&D's audio team is looking at potential next generation audio formats. It already outputs mono, stereo and 5.1 surround sound, but the organisation is keen to investigate 3D sound.
Ambisonics -- which refers to truly three-dimensional sound -- is an area of particular interest. Ambisonics is different from other surround sound formats, such as 5.1 because it doesn't rely on a specific speaker layout. Ambisonics captures the entire 3D sound field as a set of spherical harmonics which can then be decoded for a wide variety of speaker layouts, including stereo and 5.1. This means the audience can pick the sound profile that best suits their listening environment.
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