Perceptual Spatial Audio Recording, Simulation, and Rendering: An overview of spatial-audio techniques based on psychoacoustics

Abstract

Abstract-Developments in immersive audio technologies have been evolving in two directions: physicallymotivated and perceptually-motivated systems. Physically motivated techniques aim to reproduce a physically accurate approximation of desired sound fields by employing a very high equipment load and sophisticated computationally intensive algorithms. Perceptually-motivated techniques, on the other hand, aim to render only the perceptually relevant aspects of the sound scene by means of modest computational and equipment load. This article presents an overview of perceptually motivated techniques, with a focus on multichannel audio recording and reproduction, audio source and reflection culling, and artificial reverberators.

Localization Uncertainty in Time-Amplitude Stereophonic Reproduction

“…D ESPITE significant advancements in the field of multichannel audio [3], the most common reproduction system in use today remains the two-channel stereophonic system. In typical stereophonic panning, the two loudspeakers are positioned at ±30 • with respect to the listener's look direction and reproduce delayed and attenuated versions of the same signals.…”

SART3D: A MATLAB toolbox for spatial audio and signal processing education

“…This paper presents a spatial audio‐based framework for signal processing education supported by SART3D, an open‐source MATLAB toolbox (link to open‐source tool [blinded for peer review]) that simplifies the development and interactive testing of spatial audio algorithms, as an educational tool . Spatial audio refers to the part of audio signal processing and acoustics devoted to the manipulation of audio signals with the aim of capturing and/or recreating the spatial impression of sound . Due the advances in virtual and augmented reality, mobile devices, computer gaming, and immersive 3D movies and videos, spatial audio is today a discipline that captures the attention of the industry, covering from binaural applications running over headphones to large cinema halls where the audience is surrounded by plenty of loudspeakers.…”

“…[31] Spatial audio refers to the part of audio signal processing and acoustics devoted to the manipulation of audio signals with the aim of capturing and/or recreating the spatial impression of sound. [32,33] Due the advances in virtual and augmented reality, mobile devices, computer gaming, and immersive 3D movies and videos, spatial audio is today a discipline that captures the attention of the industry, covering from binaural applications running over headphones to large cinema halls where the audience is surrounded by plenty of loudspeakers. A key claim of this study is that spatial audio is also a broad and attractive application framework for students, which can be successfully exploited to demonstrate the applicability of signal processing algorithms to today's technology.…”

“…For example, binaural synthesis is a method where acoustic transfer paths between the source and the two ears of the listener are characterized by head-related impulse responses (HRIRs) in the time domain, or headrelated transfer functions (HRTFs) in the frequency domain. [32] In this method, headphones must be used as a reproduction setup to feed directly the generated signals into the corresponding ears of the listener, resulting in L = 2 output signals (l = 1, 2) for the left and right ears, respectively. The synthesis filters h l,θ,ϕ,r (n) can be obtained, for example, from an open HRIR database [36] or from geometrical models.…”

Optimization of Virtual Loudspeakers for Spatial Room Acoustics Reproduction with Headphones

“…Dozens of different ways exist to record or artificially create the spatial sound signals, which are further reproduced with an array of loudspeakers or with headphones [2]. For good spatial resolution, a high number of reproduction loudspeakers are often used in research facilities or in special venues, but such arrays are impractical in domestic or other daily listening environments.…”