Digital audio is a technology that uses digital encoding to record, store, manipulate and reproduce sound via audio signals. It involves converting analog sound waves to digital signals using an analog-to-digital converter, allowing sound to be stored and processed digitally. During the 1970s and 1990s, digital audio advanced and gradually replaced analog audio in areas like sound recording and engineering due to benefits like greater accuracy and less degradation. The process involves capturing sound waves with a microphone, converting them to electrical signals, and then back to sound waves for playback.