The EBU updates its loudness test

The European Broadcasting Union has just published a set of 15 audio sequences to be used to check the loudness level in accordance with the EBU 3341 technical standard. The specification defines a way to normalize the measurement of sound pressure in accordance with the EBU R128 recommendation.

The European Broadcasting Union has just published a set of 15 audio sequences to be used to check the loudness level in accordance with the EBU 3341 technical standard. The specification defines a way to normalize the measurement of sound pressure in accordance with the EBU R128 recommendation.

This recommends that the audio be normalized to -23LUFS (Loudness Units referenced to Full Scale).

Both the EBU R128 recommendation and the ITU R BS.1771 are very clear when it comes to avoiding inconvenience to the viewer with the continuous increase and decrease of the audio level in broadcasts.

In the first, the different parameters involved are defined (sound, sound intensity, loudness, subjective impression and loudness, among others), while in the second, the requirements of the technical devices that measure the aforementioned parameters are established.

The test files proposed by the EBU/EBU can be downloaded (in zip format) here while loudness recommendations are available here.