TC Electronic has published findings on transfer levels to mobile devices.

Having assembled a number of mobile devices – including Apple’s iPhone and iPad – on the test bench, TC CTO for Broadcast & Production, Thomas Lund, determined that -16 LUFS/LKFS is a suitable target level when making the transition from HD audio to mobile platforms. It is not recommended to push level up further, but rather to integrate a process of three simple steps to simulcast HD Audio to mobile that doesn't wash out the distinction between foreground and background sound.

It is also not recommended to let the audio level sit as low as for regular TV, because some programmes will not play loudly enough against the ambient noise floor for a listener on the move. In the findings, Lund also elaborates on perception, clarity and speech intelligibility before concluding that the 400ms sliding window of Momentary Loudness in EBU and ITU standards is a well-indicated choice.

The paper was originally written for the Broadcast Engineering Conference at the 2013 NAB Show, where the research results were presented for the first time. The full paper and test results can be downloaded as a pdf file from the TC Electronic website.

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