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basics of digital audio

Digital audio refers to sounds represented in binary format for digital devices, involving processes like sampling and conversion between analog and digital formats. Various audio file formats exist, such as MP3 and WAV, each with distinct advantages and disadvantages. Additionally, MIDI supports music data storage for electronic instruments, while speech synthesis and recognition enable machines to produce and understand spoken words.

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Fatma Newagy
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18 views9 pages

basics of digital audio

Digital audio refers to sounds represented in binary format for digital devices, involving processes like sampling and conversion between analog and digital formats. Various audio file formats exist, such as MP3 and WAV, each with distinct advantages and disadvantages. Additionally, MIDI supports music data storage for electronic instruments, while speech synthesis and recognition enable machines to produce and understand spoken words.

Uploaded by

Fatma Newagy
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Digital Audio Basics

Digital Audio Basics


• Digital audio is music, speech, and other
sounds represented in binary format for use in
digital devices.
• Most digital devices have a built-in
microphone and audio software, so recording
external sounds is easy.

1
Digital Audio Basics
• To digitally record sound, samples of a sound
wave are collected at periodic intervals and
stored as numeric data in an audio file.
• Sound waves are sampled many times per
second by an analog-to-digital converter.
• A digital-to-analog converter transforms the
digital bits into analog sound waves.

Digital Audio Basics

2
Digital Audio Basics
• Sampling rate refers to the number of times
per second that a sound is measured during the
recording process.
• Higher sampling rates increase the quality of
the recording but require more storage space.

Digital Audio File Formats


• A digital file can be identified by its type or its
file extension, such as Thriller.mp3 (an audio
file).
• The most popular digital audio formats are:
AAC, MP3, Ogg, Vorbis, WAV, FLAC, and
WMA.

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Digital Audio File Formats

AUDIO FORMAT EXTENSION ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES


AAC (Advanced Audio .aac, .m4p, or .mp4 Very good sound quality Files can be copy protected
Coding) based on MPEG-4; lossy so that use is limited to
compression; used for approved devices
iTunes music
MP3 (also called MPEG-1 .mp3 Good sound quality; lossy Might require a standalone
Layer 3) compression; can be player or browser plugin
streamed over the Web
Ogg Vorbis .Ogg Free, open standard; lossy Slow to catch on as a
compression; supported by popular standard; part of
some browsers Google's WebM format

Digital Audio File Formats

AUDIO FORMAT EXTENSION ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES


WAV .Wav Good sound quality; Audio data is stored in raw,
supported in browsers noncompressed format, so
without a plugin files are very large
FLAC (Free Lossless .flac Excellent sound quality; Open source format support
Audio Compression) lossless compression ported by many devices
WMA (Windows .wma Lossy or lossless Files can be copy protected;
Media Audio) compression; very good requires an add-on player
sound quality; used on for some devices
several music download
sites

4
Digital Audio File Formats
• Ripping is a slang term that refers to the
process of importing tracks from a CD or DVD
to your computer’s hard disk.
• The technical term for ripping music tracks is
digital audio extraction.
• A download copies a file from a private
network or Internet server to a local device.
• Audio files can be acquired as a live stream or
on-demand stream in addition to downloads.

Digital Audio File Formats

5
Digital Audio File Formats
• To play a digital audio file, you must use some
type of audio software, such as:
– Audio players: small standalone software application or
mobile app.
– Audio plugins: software that works in conjunction with
your computer’s browser to manage and play audio from a
Web page.
– Audio software: general-purpose software and apps used
for recording, playing, and modifying audio files, such as
iTunes, Windows Media Player, and Audacity.

Digital Audio File Formats

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MIDI
• MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) specifies
a standard way to store music data for synthesizers,
electronic MIDI instruments, and computers.
• MIDI messages are instructions that specify the pitch
of a note, the point at which the note begins, the
volume of the note, etc.
• An MIDI message may look like this:

MIDI
• Music composition
software with MIDI
support makes it easy to
place notes on a screen-
based music staff then
play back the
composition on a MIDI
keyboard or through the
speakers of a digital
device.

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Digitized Speech
• Speech synthesis is the process by which
machines produce sound that resembles
spoken words.
• Speech recognition (or voice recognition)
refers to the ability of a machine to understand
spoken words.

Digitized Speech
• Speech recognition software analyzes the
sounds of your voice and converts each word
into groups of phonemes (basic sound units).
• The software then compares the groups to the
words in a digital dictionary to find a match.
• When a match is found, the software can
display the word on the screen or use it to
carry out a command.

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Digitized Speech

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