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Newest addition to the Program: Austrian Airlines adopts Dolby Headphone technology for its business-class passengers

As part of the IFE program expansion, Dolby is taking over the management of the Dolby Headphone program for IFE from Lake Technology of Australia, who previously offered it under the Lake In Flight Technology (LIFT) program.

In addition, Dolby announced that Austrian Airlines has joined Singapore Airlines, Qantas, Cathay Pacific, and Lufthansa in adopting Dolby Headphone technology on its planes. Austrian Airlines will offer Dolby Headphone technology to its business-class passengers, as part of their premium service.

"With Dolby Headphone technology, passengers get a much more realistic portrayal of a soundtrack's spatial qualities, so we want as many passengers as possible to enjoy this surround-sound experience in the air," said Roger Dressler, director of technology strategy at Dolby Laboratories. "Our newly expanded IFE program focuses on increasing the availability of Dolby Headphone programming by streamlining the process for airlines."

Dolby Headphone Processing Revolutionizes In-Flight Entertainment

Dolby Headphone technology lets passengers enjoy in-flight movies and music with the same premium surround sound experience they have come to expect from a 5.1-channel home theater. With this revolutionary signal-processing system, ordinary stereo headphones can recreate the sound experience of a five-speaker surround system that is properly placed in a good listening room. Instead of sound that seems to be inside the listener's head -- as with standard headphone listening -- Dolby Headphone technology's more natural audio produces the impression that the sound is coming from speakers located in front of, behind, and to the sides of the listener, at a distance. In other words, sound that is supposed to be in front of you is in front of you. Sound that is supposed to be all around you is all around you.

As a result of this improved spatiality and directionality, Dolby Headphone processing enhances movie soundtracks, making it easier to hear dialogue, music, and special effects in their proper perspective. In addition, listeners do not suffer the "ear fatigue" common to standard headphone listening, so they can listen more comfortably and longer using Dolby Headphone coding.

Expanded IFE Program Promotes Use of Dolby Headphone Technology

Dolby's enhanced IFE program makes all airlines with stereo entertainment systems eligible to participate and to use content encoded with Dolby Headphone technology. In-flight movies are specially pre-encoded with the Dolby Headphone process, which eliminates the need to add playback processors to the in-flight entertainment systems.

To get the full surround sound experience, Dolby Headphone technology must be played on an aircraft equipped for stereo playback over electronic (not pneumatic) headphones. With Dolby's IFE program, any airline can book titles encoded with Dolby Headphone technology for their stereo-enabled aircraft as long as they follow Dolby's marketing guidelines, which covers the use of Dolby logos and trailers, and information in the in-flight guide.

"We'd love to see Dolby Headphone technology become ubiquitous for in-flight entertainment," said Dressler. "And when passengers get used to experiencing movies and music with Dolby Headphone processing in the air, they will want to maintain the surround experience when they land, whether in their home theaters or with receivers or computers equipped with Dolby Headphone processing."

About Dolby Laboratories

Dolby Laboratories is the developer of signal processing systems used worldwide in applications that include motion picture sound, consumer entertainment products and media, broadcasting, and music recording. Based in San Francisco with European headquarters in England, the privately held company also has offices in New York, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing and Tokyo. For more information about Dolby Laboratories or Dolby technologies, please visit www.dolby.com.

Note to Editors: Dolby and the double-D symbol are registered trademarks of Dolby Laboratories. All other trademarks remain the property of their respective owners.

Contact:

     Dolby Laboratories, Inc.
     Jim Arnold, 415/645-5116
     jja@dolby.com
             OR
     Martell Communications
     Cynthia Hoye, 978/266-0357
     choye@martellpr.com

Source: Dolby Laboratories, Inc.