Talk:Headroom (audio signal processing)

Conflict with Loudness War article
This article states:

"The EBU specifies a PML of 9 dB below 0 dBFS (-9 dBFS), thus giving 9 dB of headroom."

but the Loudness War article states:

"...the European Broadcast Union standards call for 18dB of headroom."

Straussian 14:54, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

I dispute the statement made in the Loudness War article. I refer the reader to AES Convention Paper 5538 On Levelling and Loudness Problems at Broadcast Studios which is given as a link at the bottom of this article. Row 6 of Table 2 at the bottom of page 17 of the paper (EBU PPM digital (QPPM)) clearly states that for digital audio, PML is -9 dBFS and the alignment level is -18 dBFS. The author of the Loudness War article is confusing the concept of "headroom" with that of "alignment level".

Chris319 06:46, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

I'd say the loudness war article is correct since the PML of a CD is 0 dBFS and this together with an alignment level of -18 would give 18 dB of headroom. 83.226.156.165 (talk) 18:38, 20 October 2008 (UTC)


 * answering lately .. You both talk about different things. "PML of a CD" means a single sample from an analog signal that after a/d does not clip. But EBU levels refer to an Audio Level Meter (QPPM) that has an integration time of 10 ms. So the first is measured "true peak", the second is measured with a PPM. 149.219.195.226 (talk) 15:17, 1 October 2009 (UTC)

Analog headroom
This article discusses digital audio headroom when there is definitely enough room for a discussion of analog audio headroom. Headroom is the same general concept (allowable range of signal level above average level) for both digital and analog systems and applies to a great number of analog signal devices including amplifiers, mixing consoles, effects units, equalizers, etc.

A discussion of analog audio headroom should be appended to this article. Binksternet (talk) 13:48, 15 June 2008 (UTC)

If you look at earlier versions you will see that I originally wrote this article in a much more general sense. I'm afraid articles are often spoilt by people who fail to recogise the broader aspect of a term. --Lindosland (talk) 23:25, 7 October 2008 (UTC)


 * Yes, i was looking for a nice easy way to understand headroom and I got a definition that used terms in it that only people that should already know what headroom means would use... (similar to if i explained what a "bump jump" was by saying, "it is when you slap the lip and suck up the hit with your legs and allow the impact to cause the air rather than performing a normal bunnyhop")
 * I was wondering if there is a way that you can sneak in a definition for non tech people, something like:
 * Headroom is the difference between normal operating levels and the maximum level the system can handle before distortion occurs.
 * (or whatever it is, but in "normal people" English.) --Billy Nair (talk) 08:50, 6 February 2012 (UTC)
 * Plus one for adding the plainer description in addition to the more technical. Jonpatterns (talk) 13:55, 4 May 2013 (UTC)

Permitted maximum level
There is no definition of Permitted maximum level on WP and there is no reference for it in this article. Sources indicate that it is, "Highest volume a program or piece of hardware can accommodate without resulting in distortion or clipping." In this context, the definition of headroom in the lead does not make sense. Signal handling capabilities don't exceed the level where clipping occurs. Headroom is always 0 by this definition. ~Kvng (talk)