EASE was developed by ADA (Acoustic Design Ahnert) and
introduced in 1990 at the 88th AES Convention in Montreux.
Shortly thereafter, Renkus-Heinz became the sole distributor
of the English version worldwide. Dr. habil Wolfgang Ahnert
of ADA is one of Europe's leading scientists and acousticians.
He is known for his participation in the development of
the Delta Stereophonic System and as the senior consultant
on numerous large European theaters and concert halls. He
is also an author and has written several textbooks on acoustics
and lectures regularly at leading European Universities.
While working on the Delta Stereophonic System, Dr. Ahnert
realized the need for an acoustical design and analysis
program that was more accurate than any available programs
and set out to develop such a program to satisfy his own
needs. He teamed up with Dr. Feistel, Professor of Theoretical
Physics at Rostock University and the rest is history. Dr.
Ahnert's theoretical training and practical experience in
acoustics gave him the background to develop the solid scientific
foundation of EASE. Dr. Feistel contributed the software
program, and even more important, the advanced algorithms
that give EASE its accuracy.
EASE JR was introduced in 1992 in response to numerous requests
for a more basic system that cost less and has been a favorite
of many system designers ever since.
EARS followed in 1993 and has proved itself to be an extremely
useful tool. It added subjective listening to the list of
tools available to professional designers and has quietly
come into its own as a working tool for many consultants.
The intervening years have been ones of steady growth for
EASE, EASE JR AND EARS. Versions 2.1 of EASE and EASE JR,
which were introduced in the Fall of 95, greatly expanded
the program's capabilities and made it far easier to use.
Shortly after they were introduced, Mark IV (Electro Voice)
decided to phase out its AcoustaCAD program and to support
EASE in its place.
In the fall of 1999 ADA and EASE took a quantum leap forward
with the introduction of the 3.0 Windows versions of EASE,
EASE JR, EARS and EARS RT. At the same time JBL decided
to drop its CADP2 program and support EASE. This turned
EASE into the de facto industry standard acoustic design
program and there now are far more copies of EASE and EASE
JR in use around the world than of any other design program
and more users are being added daily.
In August of 2002, upgraded and expanded 4.0 versions of
EASE, EASE JR, EARS & EARS RT were introduced and VISION,
AURA and IR Infrared program modules added to the EASE family.
The 4.0 versions of EASE, EASE JR, EARS, EARS RT and AURA
were replaced by 4.1 versions in the Fall of 2003, further
demonstrating the continued dedication of ADA to advance
the state of the art in Acoustic Design and Simulation programs.
History
