Spatial sound and dolby atmos technology in spatial sound systems

Understanding of sound location information is related to parameters such as incoming sound angle, phase relations, timbre differences and amplitude. Accordingly, studies, data and theories such as First Wavefront, Haas Laws, Precedence Effect, Shadow Effect, Dublex Theory, ITD and ILD, HRTF and binaural hearing experiments have been put forward. Studies on these subjects have led to development of sound technologies from past to the present. The electric sound era began with the phonograf and gramophone invented between 1887-1888. Sound system researches gathered momentum due to using stereo in cinema, which developed in the 1930's. Despite the developments on the systems, noise problems were given disturbance due to the analog technologies used. Ray Dolby has solved this problem to a great extent with the methods and products he has developed. Although developed surround systems until the 21st century was considered successful for its era, no successful product has been put forward to localize a sound source in the vertical plane. After 90s, studied methods such as SRS and Ambisonic created binaural effects using HRTF data; however, they did not fully receive the attention they deserved. Dolby, which has been successful in sound systems, has added top speakers to its existing surround system in 2012 to solve the vertical sound localization problem, and introduced the Atmos system with the object identification system it has developed. In this study, the development of sound systems in the perspective of spatial sound perception and the Dolby Atmos Cinema Sound System, which was developed as a search for a solution to the problem of sound positioning in the vertical plane, is studied. The owner of the first Atmos system setup in Turkey CinemaPink's I.C.T.A rewarded Atmos Cinema Hall in AkMerkez, Etiler, Istanbul was examined on-site. This is the first Turkish academic study examining Atmos system installation and operation study details as well as the researched topics on spatial hearing. Key Words: Dolby Atmos, Spatial Sound Perception, Binaural Hearing.