What is MMAD?

MMAD is an INITIALISM (sometimes incorrectly called an ACRONYM) derived from the title of my research work on "Multichannel Microphone Array Design". Jorg Wuttke first suggested this initialism to me in the days when my research was mainly concerned with Surround Sound systems.

Nowadays the term 'Multichannel' is normally applied only to 5 Channel sound recording and reproduction systems, even though 'Multichannel' really means 'many' channels. This type of semantic distortion unfortunately is often the case when words are introduced into a context where their real meaning is no longer valid.

The field of my research work has since developed considerably into what I more appropriately call "3D Audio". It would seem to be more apposite to translate the MMAD initialism as "Multiformat Microphone Array Design".
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