a system for improving the signal-to-noise ratio of a signal at a transmitter or recorder by first compressing the volume range of the signal and then restoring it to its original amplitude level at the receiving or reproducing apparatus
Word origin
C20: from com(pressor) + (ex)pander
compander in American English
(kəmˈpændər)
noun
Electronics(in a communications path)
a combination of a compressor at one point and an expander at another, the compressor reducing the volume of asignal and the expander restoring it
Also: compandor
Word origin
[1965–70; com(press) + (ex)pand + -er1]This word is first recorded in the period 1965–70. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: Finlandization, T cell, hired gun, no-fault, wraparound-er is a suffix used in forming nouns designating persons from the object of their occupationor labor (hatter; tiler; tinner; moonshiner), or from their place of origin or abode (Icelander; southerner; villager), or designating either persons or things from some special characteristic or circumstance(six-footer; three-master; teetotaler; fiver; tenner)