How a music producer is revolutionizing TV sound

Wie ein Musikproduzent den Fernsehton revolutioniert

A small device ensures balanced volume and understandable dialogues when watching TV

Sometimes innovations that change the world come about by chance. Gunnar Kron from Hamburg had such a moment when, as a music producer, he was commissioned to create music packaging for a TV station that was technically impossible to implement. That was the birth of the HDSX audio technology - High Definition Sound Expansion, which has just been further developed and is now coming onto the market in a small device that offers a completely new experience for listening to television.

The HDSX TV Sound Optimizer is the latest development from the founder of Kronoton, which is based in Reinbek near Hamburg. Simply installed between the television and an external speaker system, it optimizes the soundtrack when watching TV or streaming in real time. Unlike soundbars, quiet parts become louder and clearer, while loud parts remain as they are. This means that dialogues that can finally be heard clearly follow blockbuster sound effects without having to adjust the volume with the remote control.

"The large differences in volume, for example when switching between different TV channels or just when the adverts start, really annoyed me. You always have the remote control in your hand. I wanted to change that," remembers Gunnar Kron. He is expressing a fact that almost three quarters of all Germans feel the same way, as confirmed by a representative survey by Kronoton. Since his company has been working on smart technologies that improve sound for over ten years, it was obvious to him to solve the problem himself.

Gunnar Kron is an expert in the field of audio. He has been involved with music and technology throughout his entire professional life. After classical instrumental training on piano, cello and drums, he initially worked as a presenter, production manager and program director for various radio and TV stations in Hamburg. With his own music production company, he not only produced songs, but also specialized in program and station packaging. Until he founded Kronoton, he worked with various artists as a composer and music producer.

A few years ago, an order for the packaging of an international TV station presented music producer Gunnar Kron with a seemingly impossible task: the jingles had to be able to be played in mono, stereo and surround without any loss of sound. This requirement could not be met with the technology available at the time. Gunnar Kron was not going to let that stop him and achieved the supposedly impossible. He developed an algorithm and thus expanded the sound field in the room without restricting the listeners' freedom of movement. His production was therefore compatible with all three playback technologies and always sounded optimal for each individual. That was the beginning of HDSX.

He is now the patent holder of almost 20 patents at home and abroad that revolutionize sound and are integrated into products such as soundbars.

World Television Day Founded by the UN in 1996 , World Television Day is dedicated to the future challenges of the medium. Television remains the most important source of video consumption. Although screen sizes have changed and people create, publish, stream and consume content on different platforms, the number of households with television sets continues to rise worldwide.

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