PAPERS

Dither in Digital Audio*

JOHN VANDERKOOY AND STANLEY P. LIPSHITZ

Guelph-Waterloo Program for Graduate Work in Physics and Audio Research Group, University of Waterloo,
Waterloo, Ont. N2L 3Gl, Canada

A variety of topics are discussed with regard to the application of dither to a digital
audio system Basic schemes are outlined and suitable types of dither noise are considered.
Graphs are presented for analog dither of rectangular and Gaussian probability density
functions which illustrate linearization of the quantizer staircase, noise modulation, r
and total noise Digital dither is introduced, and it is urged that proper redithering
ought to be applied whenever the audio signal is digitally manipulated

0 INTRODUCTION a digital audio system and increase the signal resolution

The use of dither to remove contour effects in digital
video encoding has been studied by Roberts [1], who
explored the effect of using synchronized pseudorandom
number generators at the encode and decode processors
in an add-subtract method. The application of dither
to the qffantization of speech signals was analyzed in
Jayant and Rabiner [2] and Rabiner and Johnson [3],
whose conclusion was that the advantages of dither
become significant when the number of bits per sample
is less than about six. They make such a succinct state-
ment about dither that we quote it in its entirety from
their paper [2]: , Fig. l(a) shows the block diagram of a digital audio
-_
. . with relatively cruder quantizations, the perceptibility
of signal-dependent errors increases to a point where tech-
niques that can make the errors independent of signal sam-
ples become very attractive, even if they do not decrease
the error variance itself Dithering is precisely such a
scheme It is based on the concept of forcing the quantization
error E, conditional to a given input X, to be a zero-mean
random variable, rather than a deterministic function of
X. The randomization of conditional error E(X) is accom-
plished by the addition of a random dither noise sample N
to the input, and quantizing (X + N) instead of X.
In a previous paper [4] we have reiterated arguments
and presented experimental data which show that the
introduction of a low-level noise dither can linearize
* Presented at the 76th Convention of the Audio Engineering
Society, New York, 1984 October 8-11; revised 1987 Sep-
tember 1.
well below the quantizer step size. Although such
knowledge is not new, we feel that the audio community
needs to reconsider these matters during the present
rapid growth of digital audio. In this paper we continue
this analysis and distinguish between various forms of
dither, and we quantify their effects on differential and
large-signal nonlinearity, noise modulation, and total
noise level. We shall assume a familiarity with the
contents of [4].
1 METHODS OF APPLICATION
system consisting of the input anti-aliasing filter, the
analog-to-digital converter (ADC) or quantizer, the
digital storage or transmission medium (or digital signal
manipulator), the digital-to-analog converter (DAC),
and the final output or reconstruction filter. We shall
assume that the ADC and DAC contain sample-and-
hold circuits or their equivalents Analog dither could
be applied before or after the input anti-aliasing filter,
that is, at points A and B in Fig. l(a), or digitally in
the data stream at points C and D. It makes no sense
to apply dither at E or F, since the output filter is linear
and thus any dither just represents added noise.
Fig. 1(b) shows the application of analog dither at
the ADC input, and Fig. l(c)shows digital dither applied
at the input to the DAC, using a pseudorandom number
(PRN) generator to provide the dither noise. Each of
these processes will be studied in later sections.
Several types of analog dither noise can be used.
Normal random noise having a Gaussian probability

966 J. AudioEng.Soc.,Vol.35,No.12,1987December
PAPERS
density function (pdf) and noise having a rectangular
pdf 1 are useful. More detailed considerations of these
two forms of dither are presented in Sec. 2. Binary
noise is less useful since its pdf is characterized by a
pair of g functions. It can be used at point A in Fig.
1(a) if the clock rate is considerably higher than the
sampling rate (about three times is sufficient) so that
the input anti-aliasing filter modifies the pdf to be es-
sentially Gaussian. In each case of analog dither applied
to the quantizer, the dither-averaged input-output
characteristic is the result of input smearing of the
quantizer staircase with the dither noise pdf. We shall
call such a dither process analog convolved,
Suppose then that we are using analog signals such
as random noise to increase the low-level resolution
of the system. Should this dither be applied before or
after the anti-aliasing filter? What noise bandwidth
should be used? To answer these questions we must
recognize that the intent of the dither is to decorrelate
the quantization error of the samples from the signal
and each other. What may have been structured quan-
tization error will be turned into featureless random
noise. Thus the dither noise must be capable of fluc-
tuating from significant positive values to similar neg-
ative values in one sampling period, and this implies
a minimum noise bandwidth of half the sampling fre-
quency. Thus either of points A or B in Fig. 1(a) are
suitable for dither introduction, since the input filter
usually has a bandwidth of almost half the sampling
frequency. There are some bandwidth implications,
since if dither noise of bandwidth larger than that of
the input filter is applied at A, then the noise level
actually applied to the quantizer will be reduced,
whereas if applied at B, only the acquisition time of
the sample-and-hold circuit determines the minimum
time for a significant dither noise fluctuation,
Once a signal has been sampled and quantized into
a digital data stream, a dither signal must be digital,
applied at either point C or D in Fig. l(a). The dither
noise might be a small random number [say - 1, 0, or
1 least significant bit (LSB)], added at each clock cycle,
which can help to remove DAC nonuniformity. In such
situations the dither-averaged output is obtained by
weighting the DAC output levels with the digltal dither
probabilities. We shall call such a process digitally
convolved,
Although the addition of dither linearizes the in-
put-output characteristic, providing low-level reso-
lution, it also adds some noise. If larger amounts of
dither are contemplated to reduce converter nonlin-
earities of intermediate size, the increase in noise may
be unacceptable. To alleviate the increase in noise,
addition-subtraction schemes can be used in which
the dither is added into the chain and subtracted in
some appropriate manner farther along. Fig. 2(a) shows
an arrangement in which a PRN generator applied to
a DAC can generate low-level analog dither noise having
1 Such analog noise could be generated by using a digital
random number generator feeding a DAC.
J. Audio Eng. Soc., Vol. 35, No. 12, 1987 December
DITHER IN DIGITAL AUDIO
a rectangular pdf. In order for this scheme to give res-
olution well below the LSB in the manner of analog-
derived dither, the DAC rectangular pdf noise has a
peak-to-peak value comparable to an LSB, and this
implies that the PRN generator has its LSB well (that
is, 2 or more bits) below the main audio system's LSB.
This dither is added to the ADC input, and the digital
version (properly bit registered) is subtracted from the
ADC output. The digital subtraction will in general
result in a digital word with greater bit length, which
may be truncated or rounded to the desired word length.
The noise will not be increased due to dither beyond
the original quantization noise level if the full word
length is retained. This is not normally done, however.
If the word length is reduced to that of the ADC, the
noise penalty is up to 3 dB. If the intent of the dither
is to correct for ADC nonlinearities, dither of many
LSBs peak-to-peak registered to the left of the binary
point would be used. In this case there would be no
noise penalty for a perfect DAC.
Fig. 2(b) shows a similar add-subtract scheme ap-
plied to the output DAC of the digital audio system.
The PRN generator supplies low-level digital dither
(which may be bit truncated by the signal DAC) to add
to the digital data stream while another DAC is used
to subtract a properly scaled noise version from the
signal output. The second DAC in Fig. 2(a) or (b) does
not need to be very precise, or have a wide word length.
It typically deals with analog outputs that will be scaled
to something like one quantizing interval of the main
system, and the word length of the PRN generator and
the DAC would be chosen to give several bits of noise
resolution below the quantizing interval of the main
system. Again such a scheme prevents unnecessary
noise increase for larger dither values, placed to the
left of the binary point, but if the dither extends below
the LSB of the incoming words, there will be no noise
penalty only if the DAC converts this extended word
length. Since the DAC will normally be of the same
word length as the incoming samples, there will be a
noise penalty of up to 3 dB.
Fig. 2(c) shows an all-embracing technique which
allows analog addition at the ADC input and synchro-
nous analog subtraction at the DAC output [1], [2],
[5]. The dashed line joining the two PRN dither sources
implies that they must be synchronized. Such a scheme
ensures that precisely no noise increase occurs when
the appropriate type and amount of linearizing dither
is used. It is, however, more complicated to implement,
and probably not feasible for digital audio applications.
The single-ended dither scheme of Fig. 1(b) gives
good results with Gaussian dither of an rms value about
one-half the quantizing interval, as will be shown later.
Addition-subtraction schemes as shown in Fig. 2 do
not greatly improve on this performance, and due to
their added complexity we shall not consider them fur-
ther.
Finally, it should be mentioned that experiments have
also been performed on the use of deterministic (pe-
riodic) dither signals, either on their own [6] or in
967
VANDERKOOY AND LIPSHITZ PAPERS

combination with a pseudorandom noise component
[7]-[9]. These authors report that sinusoidal half-
sampling-rate dither by itself is not as effective as the
use of (pseudo)-random noise as discussed above and
in [4], but that a combination of the two can result in
most of the benefits of optimally chosen random noise
dither with a smaller audible noise penalty. This may
be worthwhile for digital audio systems with word
lengths of fewer than 14 bits, but the need to conserve
every last decibel of signal-to-noise ratio is less when
discussing systems of 16 or more bits. A further in-
teresting possibility lies in the use of narrow-band dither
centered at half the sampling rate, and thus having
most of its noise power outside the system's baseband
[10]-[12]. Such schemes are difficult to analyze the-
oretically, but we believe that they cannot be totally
free of noise modulation.
2 QUANTITATIVE ANALOG DITHER
CONSIDERATIONS
Two consequences of adding dither to a digital system
are that 1) the transfer characteristic is linearized and
low-level distortion is reduced, and 2) the total noise
rises slightly but the noise modulation is reduced. We
treat these phenomena more thoroughly in this section.
Our definitions are similar to those of Roberts [1].
If noise having a pdf given by p(v) is added to a

input ADC_
A filter B F_) utput
storage/
transmission
(a)

(b) (c)
Fig. 1. (a) Basic block diagram of digital audio system. At points C and D the signal is in digital form as indicated by double
lines. (b) Application of analog dither to input of ADC. (c) Application of digital dither to DAC.

(a) (b)

(c)

Fig. 2. (a) Applying analog dither in add-subtract scheme. Output of a pseudorandom digital number (PRN) generator is
converted to analog dither having rectangular pdf by the DAC. The appropriately scaled digital random number is subtracted
from the ADC digital output. (b) Applying digital dither in an add-subtract scheme. Here a second DAC is used to allow
analog subtraction of the dither from the main DAC output. (c) Analog add-subtract scheme using synchronized PRN
generators. Such add-subtract methods allow larger amounts of dither to be used without a corresponding increase in noise.

968 J. Audio Eng. Soc.,Nol. 35, No. 12, 1987 December

PAPERS DITHER IN DIGITAL AUDIO

signal Vandappliedtoaquantizerwhoseinput-output noise, given by _/X/_ for a uniform staircase quan-

relationship is defined by the function f(v), then the tizer.
dither-averaged output f(V) is given by Indeed, we can rewrite Eq. (4) to make this clearer.
Since
f(V) =a f(V + v)p(v) dv (1)
oo
[f(V + v) - VI2 = [{f(V + v) - f(V)}

which represents a smearing off(v) by the noise pdf. + {f(V) - V}]2

Eq. (1) defines what we earlier called an analog-con-
volved process. The rms noise output Vn for a static = [f(V + v) - f(V)] 2
signal V is given by
+ [f(V) - V]2
v2(V ) =a
f m
[f(V + v) - f(V)12p(v) dv . (2)
+ 2[.f(V)f(V + v) -f2(V)

This definition excludes any dc offsets and would rep- - Vf(V + v) + Vf(V)] ,
resent the noise as measured by an ac-coupled meter,
since the bracket contains the deviation of the output we find, using definitions (1), (2), (3) and the fact that
from the mean. fp(v) dv = 1, that Eq. (4) simplifies to
Eq. (2) gives the noise power as a function of the

determine
assumed slowly
noise modulation,
varying input2 but
signal
in reality
and is the
useful
signal
to Vt2ot= v2 + _ [f(V) - V]2 dV _
>- v2 (5)
swings through a range of values usually large relative
to the quantizing interval. Thus the signal-averaged
noise Vs (due to dither alone) is given by The integral on the right-hand side represents the mean
square deviation of the smoothed transfer characteristic
f(V) from the ideal straight-line characteristic V. (This

Vs
2 =a _1 vf,_v2(V) dV soiS
RobertS'also
Vtot----)Vs."deviatin"
D.) Asf(V)---_V with dithering,
Fig. 3 shows plots of Eq. (1), the dither-averaged
_ 1 fir, transfer characteristic, for several dither noise levels
A J0J- o0 [f(V + v) - f(V)]2p(v) dv dV . (3) of rectangular pdf. The noiseless quantizer staircase
is defined by 3
Here A represents one quantizing interval or LSB. This a
signal-averaged noise corresponds to the variance V f(V) = A int (V/A) + h/2 (6)
defined by Roberts [1]. It might be argued that the
deviation from straightness of the dither-averaged which has a step at V = 0, and this function is easily
input-output characteristic given by Eq. (1) represents implemented on a computer for numerical work. The
dither noise pdf is given by
signal distortion for very small signals near the LSB

level, but forfrom

deviations largestraightness
complex signals
will the
giveresidual
random periodic
noise, p(v) = _ 1/8, ] vI _< 8/2 (7)
much as quantization noise itself is then random. Thus [0, Iv[ > 8/2
the total noise rtet with signal applied should be given
by where8 is the peak-to-peakvalueof the dithernoise.
The rms value of this dither noise is 8/X/]2. Fig. 3
a 1 ri r, shows 1 LSB's width of the (periodic)dither-averaged
V2tot
= _ Jo'J- 0o[f(V + v) - V]2p(v) dy dV . (4) transfer
4/3. Note characteristic for values of when
the perfect characteristic 8/A =8/AV3,=2/3,
1.0.1,
This also occurs for 8/A = 2, 3, 4 ..... This is in
This represents a signal-averaged mean-square deviation agreement with previous researchers. For 2 < _/A < 3
of the dithered output from the assumed straight-line the characteristic has the reverse S shape to the one
characteristic of gain unity (Roberts' mean square error shown for 8/A = 4/3.
E). The value of Vtot given by Eq. (4) will always exceed Fig. 4 shows over the range of 1 LSB the noise Vn
Vs given by Eq. (3), although as the dither level in- as a function of the slowly varying input signal V for
creases, they become nearly equal. When the dither various levels of dither with rectangular pdf, as given
level is zero, Vsis zero but Vtot is equal to the quantization by Eq. (2). Note that for small amounts of dither there

2 By noise modulation we mean the variation of the noise

(here modified by dither) as the signal changes slowly as, 3 This definition differs in a nonessential way from that
for example, in dc drifts. Such variations can be quite no- usually adopted for truncating or rounding quantizers, but
ticeable and are reduced by the dither when properly applied, has been chosen for consistency with [2].

d. Audio Eng. Soc., VoL 35, No. 12, 1987 December 969
VANDERKOOY AND LIPSHITZ PAPERS

is modulation of the noise from A/2 to zero as V varies. The first minimum in the amount of noise modulation
When the dither-averaged transfer characteristic is linear occurs for _/A = 4/3, at which value the noise peaks
(_/A -- 1, corresponding to the addition of A/_/_ rms are equal at A/2 while the dips extend to %/7A/6, a 1.1-
of dither), the noise still just goes to zero for V = A/2. dB variation. However, for such conditions the dither-
averaged characteristic still deviates from linearity by
A/12.
The total signal-averaged noise output Vtot [defined
by Eq. (4)] as a function of dither noise is shown as
the solid curve in Fig. 5. Here both axes are specified
co inrmsvaluesrelativeto 1LSB.Notethat forno dither,
_,
ED the outputnoiserepresentsquantizationnoiseof value
ca
..J
A/N/fi2. As the dither increases, the graph approaches
'_ cc a slope of 1. At first we plotted the solid curve in Fig.
5 by using a computer to work out the double integrate
0.. givenin Eq. (4), usinga rectangularpdf. Whenwe
-'3
later computed the plot for a Gaussian pdf, the curves
o were the same. The Appendix shows that the noise Ytot
z is independentof the dithernoisepdf andis givenby
.<
DJ
:Ecu Vt2ot= A2/12 + V_s (8)

where Vrmsis the rms level of the dither noise. A similar

2 . 4 . 6 . 8 1 vs [given by Eqs. (2) and (3)] because the functional
SIGNAL INPUT (LSB)
_Fig.3. Dither-averaged input-output transfer characteristic
f(V) when dither having the rectangular pdf is applied. Curves
are displayed for peak-to-peak dither values of V3,%, 1, and
% times the quantizing interval. When the peak-to-peak value
of dither is an integer multiple of the step size A, the
transfer characteristic is perfectly linear. The full transfer
characteristic is the periodic extension of this 1-LSB portion,
relationship is not true for the signal-averaged noise
form off(V) depends on the dither pdf. However, in
practice there is little difference, and the dashed curve
shown in Fig. 5 representing Vs,though drawn for rec-
tangular pdf, is accurate to within the line width for
the Gaussian case to be discussed below as well.
The main problem with noise of rectangular pdf is
that the noise modulation is not optimum when the
transfer characteristic is linear. We note that the char-

co
ED
LO
_J _0 LO
v .__.1
_
V ,

DJ
ca DJ
__q 03

g 0 'q-
Z
O3
_- fY)

I_ I I - I i i i i i
.2 .4 .6 .B .2 .4 .6 .B 1
SIGNAL INPUT (LSB) RMSDITHER (LSB)
Fig. 4. Variation of output noise v,(V) with slowly varying
signal input for the case of dither with rectangular pdf. The Fig. 5. Noise output as a function of rms dither noise. Solid
peak-to-peak dither values relative to a quantizing step are curve shows total noise output Ytot,which turns out to be
indicated on the figure. When this is equal to 1, the noise given simply by Eq. (8), independent of noise pdf. Note that
still modulates from V2LSB rms to zero as Vvaries. Minimum for no dither, the total noise is given by the quantization
noise modulation occurs at %, but then the transfer char- noise, 1/_ LSB rms, as indicated by the arrow. Dashed
acteristic is no longer linear. The arrow along the vertical curve shows the variation of the signal-averaged noise vs
axis shows for reference the rms value of the quantization given by Eq. (3). The curve is drawn for dither with rectangular
noise. The full va(V) curve is just the periodic repetition of pdf, but it applies with sufficient accuracy to the Gaussian
the portion shown, case as well.
970 J. Audio Eng. Soc., Vol. 35, No. 12, 1987 December
PAPERS DITHER
INDIGITAL
AUDIO

acteristic linearizes whenever the pdf has a width equal with _ = X/3A. But whereas this Gaussian dither pro-
to a multiple of the quantizing interval A. If the noise vides essentially idealf(V) and vn(V) curves, this amount
has a pdf that is the sum of a component of width A of of rectangular pdf dither is inferior as regards both
relative probability a, and another component of width criteria. As we show in a further publication [ 13], one
2A and relative probability 1 - a, then it is easily can slightly (by 1.25 dB) improve upon the performance
shown that the transfer characteristic is linear for any of Gaussian dither, to obtain perfect f(V) and v,(V)
a, and in addition a can be chosen to minimize the curves with smaller Vtot -_- A/2, by the use of the the-
noise modulation. If a = 1/2, it can be shown that the oretically optimal dither--namely, triangular pdf dither
noise varies between A/2 and X/5A/4 (only a 1-dB vari- of 2 LSB peak-to-peak amplitude. This is, however,
ation), but the dither noise is somewhat greater than
in our earlier example. However, the condition for a _ , , , , , , , , ,
linear dither-averaged characteristic and acceptable
noise modulation can then both be met simultaneously.
Normal random noise has a Gaussian pdf, and noise co
having a rectangular pdf would have to be specifically
generated. It could be derived from a random number
generator feeding a DAC. In practice there would always co
be some normal random noise anyway, and we shall ,-_ co
see that dither with a Gaussian pdf has some desirable _-
"-3
properties, fl- I/I 6_"- _- _.._
For is,zero-mean
(that
by
standard random
deviation)noise having anpdfrmsis given
of Vrms,the value o_--q_
z
<
I/8 I/4
5/
t/2
LIJ
_V2 5' Od
p(v) - x/_ 1V_ms
exP(2__s)' (9)

Fig. 6 shows plots of the dither-averaged transfer char- , _ _ , j

acteristic [given by Eq. (1)] for a number of values of ts_ . 2 . 4 . 6 . 8
applied Gaussian dither Vrms. When Vrm s = A/2, the SIGNAL INPUT (LSB)
characteristic is essentially linear. These curves cot- Fig. 6. Dither-averaged input-output transfer characteristic
respond well with those obtained by measurement in f(V) when dither having a Gaussian pdf is applied. Curves
our earlier paper [4], but due to a calibration error the are displayed for rms dither values of '/,6, '/8, '/4, and '/2 of
a quantizing step. Note that when the rms dither value is '/2
earlier quoted dither values are too large by a factor LSB, the characteristic is essentially linear. Further increase
of about 3 (see [3, correction]). Thus all references to of the dither level is of no benefit.
the level of Gaussian dither in that paper should be
reduced by a factor of 3 to be correct and consistent _ , , , , , , , , ,
with the computer plots shown in Fig. 6. (For example,
a quoted dither level of 1 LSB rms should be amended
to read V3 LSB rms.) Acceptable low-level linearity c_
occurs if Vrms > A/3, with Vrms = A/2 being the preferred 3/4
value. Larger values of dither bring little benefit and _n
increase the total noise unnecessarily. Fig. 7 shows co
__J co
the noise modulation with various values of Gaussian .._
dither, and again we see that rrms ---- A/2 is a good m I/2

output noise versus dither [given by Eq. (4) or Eq. co

(8)], and we note that for Vrm_= A/2, the total noise 2
is 6 dB higher than the quantization noise alone, while 5'
co
there
choice.is The
almost no curve
solid noise of
modulation
Fig. 5 is aasplot
shown in total
of the Fig. cr
_ i//_
L

averaged noise Vs given by Eqs. (2) and (3). Although /8

this figure was drawn for the case of rectangular pdf
7. The dashed it curve
dithernoise, in Fig. sufficientaccuracyto
applieswith 5 is a plot of the signal-
the c0, I//l_/_'
, _ _/ J
Gaussian case as well. e_b . 2 . 4 . 6 . 8
Comparison of Fig. 6 with [4, fig. 7] shows good SIGNAL INPUT (LSB)
correspondence between the predicted and measured Fig. 7. Variation of output noise vn(V) with slowly varying
dither-averaged transfer characteristics f(V). It is in- input signal
the dither for dither
relative to 1 with Gaussian
LSB are labeled.pdf.When
The the
rmsrms
values of
dither
teresting to note that the optimal Gaussian dither of A/2 is '/2 LSB, there is very little modulation of the noise. The
rms has the same noise power as rectangular pdf dither arrow marks the rms value of the quantization noise.
J. AudioEng.Soc.,Vol.35,No.12,1987December 971
VANDERKOOY
AND
LIPSHITZ
less convenient to generate for analog dithering purposes
than Gaussian noise, but comes into its own for dithering
in the digital domain,
It would be wise to point out that care must be taken
in interpreting the noise levels from Figs. 4, 5, and 7.
The noise spectrum may be somewhat dependent on
the specific signal and its level, for small amounts of
dither, and in any case the noise does not all fall in the
baseband below half the sampling frequency. Such
features are beyond the scope of this paper and are
discussed in Bennett [14]. In addition it is well to note
that precisely rectangular or Gaussian pdfs are theo-
retical constructs. In a number of 16-bit audio systems
that we have measured, there is adequate self-dither
to linearize the system.
Recently interest has been shown in the use of the
adaptive delta modulator (ADM) as an ADC. A serious
limitation of delta modulators in general is the idle
channel noise. Any offsets in the integrator cause a
cycling effect which is made up of long durations of
alternating l's and O's separated by a pair of l's or of
O's. Such an effect usually falls in the audible range
even if the ADM clock frequency is many hundreds of
kilohertz, and appears as a low-level tone. Applying
dither to an ADM will tend to randomize the cycling,
making it less objectionable. At the same time it may
increase the signal-to-noise ratio as shown in Jayant
and Rabiner [2] for a linear delta modulator. For noise
and low-level characteristics we would expect this to
apply to an ADM as well. In fact, for audio the clock
frequency may be greater than 500 kHz, so that a sig-
nificant decrease in the noise in the audio band will
occur with optimally applied dither.
3 DIGITAL DITHER
Let us consider the effect of adding a random digital
noise, of an integral number of LSBs in amplitude, to
the digital words constituting the data stream that is to
be reconstructed as audio by the DAC. Such dither
cannot increase the low-level resolution, but it can
alleviate such problems as nonmonotonicity or nonlin-
earity in the DAC. If Vi represents the output voltage
of the/th quantization level, and Pk represents the nor-
malized probability of the digital dither number k being
added to the output, then the new dither-averaged output
level Vi is given by
Vi = E Vi+kPk (10)
This relationship is analogous to Eq. (1), which de-
scribes the dither-averaged output voltage as resulting
from the transfer characteristic convolved with the input
noise dither. We earlier called such a process analog
convolved. For Eq. (10), however, the output voltage
levels will be said to be digitally convolved with the
digital dither noise, described by the probabilities Pk
representing the "probability density" of this digital
dither,
972
PAPERS
Fig. 8 shows a representative example of nonuni-
formity in the DAC transfer characteristic (solid line)
and the resulting improvement (dashed line) to the
dither-averaged transfer characteristic when digital
dither is applied. The dither effects shown represent a
random addition of - 1, 0, or + 1, all with equal prob-
ability of 1/3,so the summation in Eq. (10) is only over
three values of k. The noise resulting from the appli-
cation of such dither would be modified near regions
of output nonuniformity or nonmonotonicity. If the
staircase output levels are uniform and spaced by A,
the output noise voltage VD(assuming that the ADC
produces a nonvarying digital output) is given by
V2o-- _ (kA - _lptA) 2 Pk (11)
k l
Our example has P-1 = Po = Pi = 1/3, giving VD 2 =
2A2/3. To overcome a nonmonotonicity of several LSBs,
the added digital dither noise would be quite significant.
The add-subtract scheme shown in Fig. 2(b) might
allow the use of higher levels of digital dither. There
will still be a noise modulation whenever the signal
encounters the nonlinearities. Input quantizer nonlin-
earities cannot be removed by digital dither, and must
be dealt with by analog dither applied before the ADC.
If the digital system employs both input analog dither
and output digital dither, then the dither-averaged output
is given by
f(V) = _'_ Pk fc fk(V + v)p(v) dv (12)
k J-
wherefk represents the input-output staircase as mod-
ified by adding the number k to the intermediate digital
data. The probabilities Pk describe the digital dither
values k, as before.
An important situation for digital dither concerns
the result of fading or other manipulation of digital
signals, as well as computer generation of digital sig-
nals. Such digital devices as mixing desks, equalizers,
reverberation units, synthesizers, and sampling standard
converters all potentially give rise to truncation prob-
lems which can be alleviated by proper application of
fractional-LSB digital dither. If a digital manipulation
(such as a gain reduction) is performed, there may be
a tendency to take the intermediate higher precision
numbers generated by the multiplication and simply
truncate or round them to the bit width of the system.
This will in many cases leave the signal improperly
dithered. An example of a properly dithered digital
manipulation is shown in Fig. 9. An integer digital
word Di (say with 16 bits) is modified by multiplication
with a coefficient Q having integer and/or fractional
parts. The result is shown as P, again with integer and
fractional parts. If we simply used the integer part of
P as our modified word, it may be underdithered and
various deleterious effects may occur as a result. When
the random fractional number Rf is added to P, the
carry bit at the binary point acts as dither for the integer
J. Audio Eng. Soc., Vol. 35, No. 12, 1987 December
PAPERS DITHERINDIGITAL
AUDIO

part of the result P*. The carry bit thus contains the
best dither for the integer truncation or rounding of
P*, which optimally preserves the information in the
truncated bits. The fractional truncated bits have some
influence on the dither, in keeping with their relative
position. If cost or processing time were no object,
then any digital manipulation should be carried out
with full accuracy, and the dither carry bit (0 or 1) can
be determined by an appropriate digital random number
added to the bits to be truncated. In practice such
schemes would probably work well by considering only
the first 3 or 4 bits to be truncated. The whole question
of digital dither is the subject Of a separate paper [13].
[ I I I [ I
4 CONCLUSION
This paper has studied some of the interesting aspects
of dither in quantized systems relating to small-scale
linearization of the transfer characteristic and modu-
lation of the quantization noise. We have shown that
dither having a Gaussian pdf (normal random noise)
gives good linearization with very little noise modu-
lation when the rms level of the dither lies between
one-third and one-half of a quantizing interval. In the
digital domain it is suggested that digital manipulation
be accompanied by appropriate dither algorithms so
that undithered signals do not result because of bit
truncation brought about by digital arithmetic [13].
[ I I

5 ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This work has

and Engineering beensupportedby the
Research Council NaturalSciences
of Canada. The au-

i-
a.
.....
i
J
t
[ _
computer

6
thors
graphics.

REFERENCES
would also like to thank Michael Heal for the

c3 [1] L. G. Roberts,"PictureCodingUsingPseudo-
Random Noise," IRE Trans. Inform. Theory, vol. IT-

[2] N. S. Jayant and L. R. Rabiner, "The Application

-.....
.....
i i i a
INPUT
Fig. 8. Illustrating how the use of digital dither can reduce
output DAC nonlinearities. Solid line--original characteristic;
dashed line--dither-averaged output when digital dither is
applied for which numbers - 1, 0, and + 1 are added with
equal probability to digital words feeding the DAC.
8, pp. 145-154(1962Feb.).
of Dither to the Quantization of Speech Signals," Bell
Sys. Tech. J., vol. 51, pp. 1293-1304 (1972 July/
Aug.).
, , a i [3] L. R. Rabiner and J. A. Johnson, "Perceptual
Evaluation of the Effects of Dither on Low Bit Rate
PCM Systems," Bell Sys. Tech. J., vol. 51, pp. 1487-
1494 (1972 Sept.).
[4] J. Vanderkooy and S P. Lipshitz, "Resolution
Below the Least Significant Bit in Digital Systems with
Dither," J. Audio Eng. Soc., vol. 32, pp. 106-113
(1984 Mar.); correction ibid., p. 889 (1984 Nov.).

Input Word /_ D_ I, . 0 on [5] L. Schuchman,

Quantization Noise,""Dither
IEEE Signals
Trans. and Their Effect
Commun. Tech-
nol., vol. COM-12, pp. 162-165 (1964 Dec.).
x [I Q_ II ] O, [ [6] G. G. Furman, "Improving the Quantization of
L____:L_J Random Signals by Dithering," Rand Corp. Memo.
RM-3504-PR (1963 May).
= /L P_ [. I P, [
I L-.-.-.-----.---..-_ [7] M. G. Croll, "Pulse Code Modulation for High
Quality Sound Distribution: Quantizing Distortion at
I I Very Low Signal Levels," BBC Research Dept., Eng.
+ 0 _ Div., Rep. 1970/18 (1970).
[8] D. E. L. Shorter and J. R. Chew, "Application

= Pi j o _ in aPulse-Code
of BroadcastingModulation
Network,"to Sound-Signal
Proc. lEE, vol.
Distribution
119, pp.
1442-1448 (1972 Oct.).
Truncate
[| P* J| 0 [9] S.
Signal R. Ely, BBC
Systems," "Idle-ChannelNoise
Research Dept., in PCM
Eng. Sound-
Div., Rep.
Fig. 9. Illustrating how an integer digital word D can be 1978/4 (1978 Feb.).
redithered if a signal manipulation (here a multiplication) [10] L. R. Carley, "Quantization Noise in an Over-
takes place. Here Q represents the multiplier and this process sampled A/D Converter," Proc. 1986 IEEE ASSP
leaves a fractional
fractional partthe
number Rf, Pftruncated
in the result. By addingresult
(or rounded) a random
P* is Workshop on Applications of Signal Processing to Audio
properly dithered by the carry bit. and Acoustics (New Paltz, NY, 1986 Sept. 15-17),

J. AudioEng.Soc.,Vol.35,No.12,1987December 973
VANDERKOOY
AND
LIPSHITZ PAPERS

paper 7.3.
[11] L. R. Carley, "An Oversampling Analog-to-
Digital Converter Topology for High-Resolution Signal
Acquisition Systems," IEEE Trans. Circuits and Sys-
terns, vol. CAS-34, pp. 83-90 (1987 Jan.).
[12] B. A. Blesser and B. N. Locanthi, "The Ap-
plication of Narrow-Band Dither Operating at the
Nyquist Frequency in Digital Systems to Provide Im-
proved Signal-to-Noise Ratio over Conventional Dith-
ering," J. Audio Eng. Soc., vol. 35, pp. 446-454 (1987
June).
[13] S. P. Lipshitz and J. Vanderkooy, "Digital
Dither," presented at the 81 st Convention of the Audio
Engineering Society, J. Audio Eng. Soc. (Abstracts),
vol. 34, p. 1030 (1986 Dec.), preprint 2412.
[14] W. R. Bennett, "Spectra of Quantized Signals,"
Bell Sys. Tech. J., vol. 27, pp. 446-472 (1948 July).
ing the first two terms in the bracket, and note that
fp(v) dv = 1. Although Q depends on v and V, it is
periodic, and the integral of Q2 over one quantization
interval for V gives for the first term just the total mean
square quantization noise, whereas for the second term
Q averages to zero. The third term defines the mean
square dither noise, so we have for the total noise
Vt:ut= A2/12 + v_s (8)
asdesired.
The output noise due to dither alone is given by Eq.
(3). It cannot be simplified to yield as simple a result,
since the included function f(V) must depend on the
dither. If we define
f(V) = V + P(V) (15)

APPENDIX where the function P(V) is the periodic zero-mean de-

viation of the dither-averaged transfer characteristic
canTobeprove Eq. as(8) from Eq. (4) we note thatf(V
written + v) from a straight line of slope unity, then Eq. (3) becomes

f(V + v) = V + v + Q(V + v) (13) v2 = _ o0

[(Q - P) + vl2p(v) dvdV. (16)

where the linear part of Eq. (6) has been extracted,

leaving the quantization error function Q. This error Here Q - P is the deviation of the output from the
has zero mean and is periodic, repeating itself over mean. Using arguments as before, we arrive at
each quantizing interval A. Eq. (4) becomes
= vo 2+ v2s (17)
Vt2ot = lf:f
_ oo [Q(V + v) + v]2p(v) dv dV in which Qp describes the rms value of the deviation
Q - P. However, vQp depends on the functional shape
of the dither pdf, becoming zero as the dither noise is

=_ (Q2 + 2vQ + v2)p(v)dv dV. decreased to zero. vQp does not, however, depend
oo (14) strongly on the pdf shape, as shown by the dashed
curve in Fig. 5, which represents both rectangular and
We exchange the order of integration in consider- Gaussian dither to the accuracy of the pen width.

THE AUTHORS

J. Vanderkooy S. Lipshitz

John Vanderkooy was born in The Netherlands in
1941 and received all of his education in Canada, earn-
ing a B.Eng. degree in engineering physics in 1963
and a Ph.D. in physics in 1967, both from McMaster
University in Hamilton, Ontario. For some years he
followed his doctoral interests in low-temperature
physics of metals at the University of Waterloo, where
he is currently an associate professor of physics. His
research is now mainly in electroacoustics,
A member of the AES and IEEE, Dr. Vanderkooy
has contributed a series of papers at conventions and
to the Journal, many in collaboration with his colleague
Stanley Lipshitz. Together with a few graduate students
they form the Audio Research Group at the University
of Waterloo. His current interests are digital audio signal
processing, measurement of transfer functions with
maximum-length sequences, wavefront reconstruction
in multichannel sound reproduction, and the role of

974 J. AudioEng.Soc.,Vol.35,No.12,1987December
PAPERS
eddy currents in loudspeaker drivers,
and has presented numerous papers and participated
Stanley Lipshitz is an associate professor of both
applied mathematics and physics at the University of
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, and amemberofits Audio
Research Group. His current research interests include
digital signal processing for audio applications, elec-
troacoustic transducer measurement, acoustic diffrac-
tion effects, and surround sound wavefront recon-
struction problems. He has published widely on these
J. AudioEng.Soc.,Vol.35, No.12, 1987December
DITHERIN DIGITALAUDIO
and other audio topics in the Journal and elsewhere
in workshops at AES conventions.
A fellow of the AES, he is now its president-elect
and will assume office in 1988 November. He is also
a member of the IEEE, the Acoustical Society of
America, and the Canadian Acoustical Association.
As vice president of the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber
Music Society, he records most of their concerts for
broadcast on the University's radio station CKMS-
FM.
975