If you've been blown away by the sound in the cinema recently, Dolby Atmos may be the reason why. The first surround sound system to use an 'object oriented' rather than 'channel oriented' approach, it has given movie makers a whole new palette with which to craft immersive 3D audio backdrops to films.
Dolby Atmos was introduced by Dolby Laboratories in 2012 as a cinema-only format, but last month a number of consumer manufacturers including Yamaha, Marantz and Denon revealed that Atmos is coming to their products later in 2014.
Atmos differs in three main ways. Firstly there is a massive increase in the potential number of channels - one manufacturer is developing a product with 32 channels!
Secondly, the sound isn't mixed into a fixed channel setup, but is dynamically recreated in 3D space depending on the individual speaker configuration in use, so there is more room for creative expression during production, and more flexibility in how home theatres can be set up.
Last but not least, it emphasises sound from above, with the addition of either ceiling speakers or an addition to existing speakers that fires upwards and reflects sound off the ceiling.
This video gives a good run-down of the differences between Atmos and 'conventional' surround formats:
What is Dolby Atmos?
Current home theatre surround sound uses discrete channels to create an immersive listening experience based on directing sound to specific channels in specific locations (front, centre, rear etc). There's a fixed number of channels and speakers, and the sound has to be mixed to suit that limitation.