Error resilient scalable audio coding

A scalable audio decoding apparatus comprising:

• a decoder configured to decode an embedded audio bitstream of bit-planes into quantized data of weighted subbands, wherein the embedded audio bitstream comprises binary data having bits of differing types, and wherein each said bit-plane has at least one data unit that comprises one or more partitions for facilitating determination of one or more errors in the data unit, the partitions comprising multiple contiguous bits of a same type;
• and
• an inverse quantizer configured to dequantize the quantized data of weighted subbands into audio signals.

A data structure, embodied in one or more computer readable media, for a coded bit-plane of an embedded audio bitstream that comprises binary data having bits, the data structure comprising multiple partitions of bits, wherein the multiple partitions comprise at least one partition having one or more contiguous sign boundary mark bits for facilitating determination of one or more errors in the data structure.