Hi, I’m new to audio signal processing and to pytorch and I’m having some trouble understanding this part of the docs of the torchaudio load function:

normalization (bool, number, or callable, optional) – If boolean True, then output is divided by 1 << 31 (assumes signed 32-bit audio), and normalizes to [-1, 1]. If number, then output is divided by that number If callable, then the output is passed as a parameter to the given function, then the output is divided by the result. (Default: True)

From what I understand, the function assumes the file to have a bit depth of 32 bit, however that bit depth is rather rare. Does 32-bit audio mean indeed bit depth or something else?
Also I don’t understand what is the meaning of output is divided by 1 << 31. What is meant by output and what is meant by 1 << 31?
Thanks for your help