def METHOD_NAME(path):
    with open(path, 'rb') as fp:
        au = sunau.open(fp)
        rate = au.getframerate()
        nchannels = au.getnchannels()
        encoding = au._encoding
        fp.seek(0)
        data = fp.read()
    if encoding != sunau.AUDIO_FILE_ENCODING_MULAW_8:
        raise RuntimeError("Expect .au file with 8-bit mu-law samples")
    # Convert the data to 16-bit signed.
    data = audioop.ulaw2lin(data, 2)
    return (data, rate, 16, nchannels)