What is the name of the audio processing unit in the PlayStation 5?

The PlayStation 5’s audio processing unit is called the Tempest Engine.

Sony designed the Tempest Engine as dedicated hardware for three-dimensional audio. It helps the PS5 calculate how sound should appear to come from different directions and distances, allowing effects such as footsteps, projectiles, weather, and room ambience to feel positioned around the player.

The system was developed from ideas related to the PlayStation 3’s audio architecture, but it represents a major expansion over the PlayStation 4. Sony said the PS5 could handle hundreds of simultaneous sound sources, compared with roughly 50 on the PS4. That extra processing capacity helps developers create denser and more convincing soundscapes.

Tempest 3D AudioTech is the feature name players usually encounter in settings and marketing, while Tempest Engine refers to the underlying audio-processing hardware. It is also easy to confuse this with Dolby Atmos or DTS:X: those are audio formats or technologies the console can support, whereas Tempest Engine is Sony’s own processing system.