Günther Theile studied psychoacoustics and communications theory at the Technical University in Berlin. He has obtained his Ph.D. in psychoacoustics from the Technical University of Berlin in 1980. In his thesis he introduced a general theory on sound source localisation. Based on this, he proposed the diffuse field equalization, which has become ITU-R-Rec. BS. 708 for studio monitor headphones, and he proposed the sphere stereo microphone, the room related balancing technique, as well as the OCT Surround System. In 1984 he invented the masking threshold based subband coding technique and started the development of the MUSICAM system, which is now ISO/IEC Standard (MPEG 1 Audio Layer II). He was engaged in investigations on dynamic range control and on multichannel sound, including multichannel source coding (MPEG 2 Audio Layer II). Under his chairmanship ITU-R TG 10-1 has produced Recommendation BS. 775 ("Multichannel Stereophonic Sound System"), known as 5.1 surround standard.
His current activities are concentrating on international harmonization of practical parameters for programme exchange and archiving, on multichannel production, on the development of binaural and wavefield synthesis systems. He is contributing in the EU-Project “Carrouso” (Creating, assessing and rendering in real time of high quality audio-visual environments in MPEG-4 context).
In his fields of work Dr. Theile has published about one hundred papers, and he has been granted more than ten International Patents. In 1992 he received the Lothar-Cremer-Medal for his basic work on perceptual source coding. He has received the AES Fellowship and AES Board of Govenors Awards. He was Chairman of the 102nd AES Convention in Munich and of the AES 19th Conference on Surround Sound, June 2001. He has chaired ITU-R Working Party 10C in the period 1997-1998. Currently he is serving as Chairman of the AES South German Section, as Vice-Chairman of the AES Technical Committee on Multichannel and Binaural Audio Technologies, as Chairman of the VDT specialist group ”Research & Development” and ”Surround Sound Forum”, as well as Chairman of the Programme Committee of the Tonmeistertagung.