Dolby Atmos

Dolby Atmos is a 3D sound system for home theaters and cinemas developed by Dolby Laboratories, which is a further development of surround systems. It is characterized by a virtually unlimited number of sound dispersion systems, of which 64 are used in the first stage of development.

In Dolby Atmos technology, audio signals are not only assigned to sound channels, but also processed as audio objects in real time and distributed to the various speakers. In contrast to surround systems such as Dolby Surround, the speakers are not only arranged in the seating area, but also as ceiling speakers on the ceiling of the room.

Each loudspeaker can be controlled with an individual loudspeaker signal. This means that in addition to the front left and right center speakers and the side and rear speakers used in classic surround systems, additional speakers and ceiling speakers can be installed for all-encompassing 3D sound. With such a system, where individual speakers are addressed individually, spatial localization of voices, musical instruments or sounds is possible.

For surround systems, the number of speakers is specified in the nomenclature 5.1 or 7.1. Where the first digit stands for the number of speakers, front, side and rear at seat height, and the second digit for the number of subwoofers - usually 1, - the ceiling speakers are also added behind the number of woofers in 3D sound: 11.1.4, where the digit 4 stands for the number of ceiling speakers. Dolby Atmos is used in Ultra HD Blu-Ray and in AV receivers.