📖 Audio Glossary

Time-Domain Correction

Correction focusing on when frequencies arrive (timing) — shifts impulse response to reduce smearing from reflections.

Frequency-domain correction (EQ) fixes what is too loud or quiet. Time-domain correction fixes when sounds arrive. Room reflections cause the same sound to arrive multiple times at slightly different delays, smearing transients and blurring imaging. Time-domain correction uses FIR filters to reduce the amplitude of delayed reflections, tightening the impulse response.

Time-domain correction is most effective above the Schroeder frequency, where reflections are distinct. Below the Schroeder frequency, room modes dominate and frequency-domain correction is more effective. Advanced systems (Dirac Live, Trinnov) combine both approaches.

Related Terms

Impulse Response (IR)A measurement capturing how a room or device responds to an extremely short, sharp sound — contains frequency, phase, and decay information.FIR Filter (Finite Impulse Response)A digital filter whose impulse response settles to zero — preserves linear phase (no timing distortion) but may add latency.Room CorrectionUsing digital analysis and filtering to compensate for acoustic problems caused by room resonances and speaker placement.
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