Preemphasis

Definition

In some transmission and recording systems (e.g. vinyl records, FM radio, analog magnetic tape), there is more noise at higher frequencies. To offset this, the audio signal is "preemphasized" at the transmitter -- filtered with a high-pass filter to boost the higher audio frequencies.

A matching low-pass filter is used at the receiver to return to an overall flat audio-frequency response. The filter at the receiver reduces the high-frequency noise introduced by the transmission process.