Reproduction of nearby sound sources using higher-order ambisonics with practical loudspeaker arrays

Sylvain Emmanuel Favrot, Jörg Buchholz

    Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

    Abstract

    In order to reproduce nearby sound sources with distant loudspeakers to a single listener, the near field compensated (NFC) method for higher-order Ambisonics (HOA) has been previously proposed. In practical realization, this method requires the use of regularization functions. This study analyzes the impact of two existing and a new proposed regularization function on the reproduced sound fields and on the main auditory cue for nearby sound sources outside the median plane, i.e, low-frequencies interaural level differences (ILDs). The proposed regularization function led to a better reproduction of point source sound fields compared to existing regularization functions for NFC-HOA. Measurements in realistic playback environments showed that, for very close sources, significant ILDs for frequencies above about 250 Hz can be reproduced with NFC-HOA and the proposed regularization function whereas the existing regularization functions failed to provide ILDs below 500 Hz. A listening test showed that these lower-frequency ILDs provided by the proposed regularization function lead to a significantly improved distance perception performance. This test also showed that the distance of virtual sources are perceived less accurately than corresponding physical sources when amplitude cues are not available. © S. Hirzel Verlag · EAA.
    Original languageEnglish
    JournalActa Acustica United with Acustica
    Volume98
    Issue number1
    Pages (from-to)48-60
    ISSN1610-1928
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2012

    Keywords

    • Sound source
    • Practical realizations
    • Higher order
    • Acoustic generators
    • Interaural level differences
    • Acoustic fields
    • Acoustic field measurement
    • Listening tests
    • Point sources
    • Regularization function
    • Loudspeaker array
    • Depth perception
    • Virtual sources
    • Improved distance
    • Near fields
    • Loudspeakers

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