If you are watching the World Cup on your computer.. Devuvuzelator ..

[Fumesucker]

I know this will probably be moved but I never post or read in the Lounge, I know the vuvuzela aggravates a lot of you and this will show in the Latest Threads if I post here in GD.

http://www.gizmag.com/devuvuzelator-filters-vuvuzela-world-cup-broadcasts/15493/?utm_source=Gizmag+Subscribers&utm_campaign=a09b7c1f77-UA-2235360-4&utm_medium=email

The sound of vuvuzela drowning out the commentary on television has been one of the main complaints from World Cup viewers. Critics also argue it renders the oohs, aahs and cheers of the crowd that add excitement to the game, inaudible. By analysing the sound of vuvuzela, Dr. Chris Cannam and a team of researchers from the C4DM have devised a devuvuzelator filter which could largely remove the sound of the horns and improve the clarity of the commentary and the crowd noise. The filter is also simple enough to run in real-time, so it can be applied to a live broadcast as it happens.

Various approaches have been discussed by audio engineers, most commonly using "notch filtering", which removes sound energy from specific frequencies. The vuvuzela sound energy is mostly found within narrow frequency bands – the fundamental frequency (approximately 230 Hz) and some higher overtones – so targeting those specific frequencies is a reasonable way to quieten the vuvuzela sound. Unfortunately, notch filtering also has a tendency to remove some of the energy from the commentator's voice too, since the frequency distributions of the voice and vuvuzela overlap.

Dan Stowell of the C4DM said, "Our approach was to make a filter which estimates the amount of energy in the signal contributed by vuvuzelas, at the specific frequencies expected, and then subtracts just that energy. This 'adaptive' approach potentially preserves the voice energy in the signal and helps preserve voice quality."

Anyone who has had enough of the incessant droning of vuvuzela during their World Cup viewing can download the devuvuzelator at isophonics.net.

http://isophonics.net/content/whats-all-about-vuvuzela

[Canuckistanian]

1. That's bloody brilliant

An adaptive notch filter to remove vuvuzelations. Why didn't I think of that?

[tularetom]

2. WTF is wrong with vuvuzelas?

If that noise bothers you while watching a match you can always turn the sound down. Of course then you couldn't hear the REALLY annoying sounds from the World Cup - like the Irish announcer whose accent is so goddamned thick I can only understand about one of every hundred words he utters.

I'm thinking of buying myself a vuvuzela. It'll keep the raccoons out of my garbage and the coyotes away from the chickens.

[Fumesucker]

3. I wouldn't know, I'm not into spectator sports other than motorcycle road racing.

And I haven't owned a TV for years..

I've seen maybe five minutes of the WC when in front of someone else's TV.

[Codeine]

4. Part of football is the sound of the crowd.

Not the sound of continuous horn blasts completely unrelated to the action on the pitch.

[nemo137]

5. Since I work during both the 9AM and 1:30PM games, I haven't gotten much vuvzela

But the one game I heard it in was annoying. Maybe it's better to get the delayed play-by-play from my coworkers?

[RufusTFirefly]

6. Oh, puh-leeze!

If the vuvuzela hampers your enjoyment of the World Cup, you need to get a life. My Spanish is marginal, but I've been watching the games almost exclusively on Univision because I can't stand stupid commentary. Way more disruptive than the vuvuzela if you ask me. During the last Men's World Cup, I made the mistake of watching the matches in English. Never again.