A novel application of high energy physics technology to the problem of audio preservation

Audio information stored in the undulations of grooves in a medium such as a phonograph record may be reconstructed, with no contact, by measuring the groove shape using precision metrology methods and digital image processing. The effects of damage and contamination may be compensated through image processing. The speed and data handling capacity of available computing hardware make this approach practical. A feasibility test is reported which used a general purpose optical metrology system to study a 50 year old 78 r.p.m. phonograph record.