Headroom (audio signal processing)

[1] Headroom can be thought of as a safety zone allowing transient audio peaks to exceed the nominal level without damaging the system or the audio signal, e.g., via clipping.

Standards bodies differ in their recommendations for nominal level and headroom.

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) specifies several nominal levels and resulting headroom for different applications.

[citation needed] In analog audio, headroom can mean low-level signal capabilities as well as the amount of extra power reserve available within the amplifiers that drive the loudspeakers.

Typically, nominal (not alignment) level is 0 dB, corresponding to an analog sine wave of voltage of 1.23 volts RMS (+4 dBu or 3.47 volts peak to peak).