Noise Shaping in Digital Audio
Noise shaping in audio is most commonly done as a bit-reduction scheme. The quantization error from straight dither is flat, white noise. The ear, however, is less sensitive to certain frequencies than others at low levels (see Fletcher-Munson curves). By using noise shaping we can effectively spread the quantization error around so that more of it is focused on frequencies that we can't hear as well and less of it is focused on frequencies that we can hear. The result is that where the ear is most critical the quantization error can be reduced greatly and where our ears are less sensitive the noise is much greater. This can give a perceived noise reduction of 4 bits compared to straight dither.
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