Determining the inter-channel time difference of a multi-channel audio signal

A device for determining an inter-channel time difference of a multi-channel audio signal having at least two channels, wherein the device comprises processing circuitry is configured to:

• determine a set of local maxima of a cross-correlation function involving at least two different channels of the multi-channel audio signal for positive and negative time-lags, where each local maximum is associated with a corresponding time-lag;
• select, from the set of local maxima, a local maximum for positive time-lags as a positive time-lag inter-channel correlation candidate and a local maximum for negative time-lags as a negative time-lag inter-channel correlation candidate;
• determine that the absolute value of a difference in amplitude between the inter-channel correlation candidates is smaller than a first threshold;
• and
• identify the sign of the inter-channel time difference and extract a current value of the inter-channel time difference based on either the time-lag corresponding to the positive time-lag inter-channel correlation candidate or the time-lag corresponding to the negative time-lag inter-channel correlation candidate.