Understanding Audio Latency And How Important It Is

Illustration of listening to audio (doc. unsplash).

Have you ever watched a movie and realized that the audio played was too late so the player's mouth movements didn't match? If so then there is a problem with the audio latency.

Audio latency is closely related to games, music, or movies because all of these works really need audio. Therefore, gamers and film makers must pay attention to this aspect so that the user experience, listeners, or viewers are not disturbed.

Basically, audio latency is the time the signal needs so that its sound can reach the system and be heard. Latency will always occur as sophisticated as any technology used, but depending on the amount of latency produced.

The lower the audio latency, the better the results will be. When the latency is made as low as possible, the amount of processing time needed to convert sound into digital signal will decrease.

For games and movies, latency is very sensitive. No matter how good games and films are made, players and viewers will not be able to enjoy it. The reason is, people will lose focus if the audio latency is very high.

However, there is also the possibility that this latency occurs because of you yourself. One possibility is the use of headphones or earbuds. If these two devices are Bluetooth models, the signal of sound delivery may not be too good.

Therefore, the audio you listen to and the scenes shown can be different. If this happens, you should switch to another audio device or stop using the audio device.