Fractional-Order Shelving Filter Designs for Acoustic Applications

Fractional-order shelving filter designs, which are used for preserving the spectral balance of the human sound perception, are introduced in this work. The main attractive offered benefit is originated from the fact that fractional-order filters offer an extra degree of freedom with regards to the slope of the stop-band attenuation, allowing an improvement in the listening experience. The implementation of the filters is performed through the utilization of the partial fraction expansion of the rational integer-order transfer functions which approximate their fractional-order counterparts. The employment of Operational Transconductance Amplifiers as active elements offers the advantage of full electronic control of the implemented filters characteristics.