Some audio processing methods may involve receiving audio data corresponding to a plurality of audio channels and determining audio characteristics of the audio data, which may include transient information. An amount of decorrelation for the audio data may be based, at least in part, on the audio characteristics. If a definite transient event is determined, a decorrelation process may be temporarily halted or slowed. Determining transient information may involve evaluating the likelihood and/or the severity of a transient event. In some implementations, determining transient information may involve evaluating a temporal power variation in the audio data. Explicit transient information may or may not be received with the audio data, depending on the implementation. Explicit transient information may include a transient control value corresponding to a definite transient event, a definite non-transient event or an intermediate transient control value.