Global paradigm shifts in the audio industry - Part 1

Throughout the 60-year history of the Audio Engineering Society we have bee n experiencing continuous change; and the notion of change is so woven into the fabric of our thinking that we do not pay special attention to it. We can go further by saying that the word "change" itself no longer has any re al semantic meaning. While the ubiquitous nature of change results in a num bing of our cognitive thinking, the ability to survive and thrive in the mi dst of change depends on our capacity to adapt. Moreover, not all changes a re the same, and the appropriate response depends on the properties of thos e changes. It is our intent with this article to identify a class of change that started 10 years ago and is accelerating at a very rapid rate. To und erstand the new aspects of this change, we need a new language.