Spatial Sound With Loudspeakers and Its Perception: A Review of the Current State

Spors, Sascha; Wierstorf, Hagen; Raake, Alexander; Melchior, Frank; Frank, Matthias; Zotter, Franz

doi:10.1109/jproc.2013.2264784

Cited by 110 publications

(73 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…II, three additional stimuli were generated from freely available multi-track recordings. The three recordings consist of a pop-rock song with live feeling and male vocals (The Brew-What I Want) 1 , a slightly heavier rock song with female vocals (Hop Along-Sister Cities) 2 , and a shorter hip-hop track (Lushlife-Toynbee Suite) 2 with male rap vocals. In addition, Exp.…”

Section: Stimuli 221 Audio Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Listener Preference for Wave Field Synthesis, Stereophony, and Different Mixes in Popular Music

Wierstorf¹,

Hold²,

Raake³

2018

J. Audio Eng. Soc.

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Stereophony and wave field synthesis are capable of providing the listener with a rich spatial audio experience. They both come with different advantages and challenges. A direct comparison in terms of listener preference has rarely been carried out in previous research, since these methods differ in their production stage. This study generated mixes of four different popular music recordings and introduced systematic changes to the wave field synthesis mix for one song. Listeners rated their preference comparing the different mixes and reproduction systems. Part of the experiment was repeated using a binaural simulation of the involved loudspeaker setups. The results show that a presentation using a high number of loudspeakers is preferred and the differences between reproduction methods can have a larger influence than strong variations of single mixing parameter. INTRODUCTIONThe most common loudspeaker reproduction methods in the consumer market are 2-or 2.1-channel stereophony (stereo) and 5.1-channel stereophony (surround / 5.1) [1]. Several multichannel methods that provide a higher number of surrounding loudspeakers are available as well [2]. More loudspeakers can lead to a higher emotional reaction and encourage deep immersion of listeners during reproduction [3]. The question arises if integrating more loudspeakers will also enhance the overall listening experience for listeners. In a study comparing stereo, surround, Ambisonics, 9-channel, and 22-channel stereophony Francombe et al. [4] showed that listeners preferred systems with more than five channels for different types of broadcast content.The present study assesses if the same preference for systems with a higher number of loudspeakers is present for wave field synthesis (WFS) [5,6] when compared to stereo and surround in the context of popular music. There is evidence against this as WFS is known to introduce stronger coloration on single sound sources than stereophony [7].Mixes of popular music for WFS are produced in a slightly different workflow than for stereo and surround. When listeners are asked which reproduction system they prefer for a given song the actual mix might influence their choice as well. The goal of the study is to quantify the influence of the mixing process on listener preference.The involved reproduction systems can be simulated via headphones, employing binaural re-synthesis to mimic the involved loudspeaker setups [8]. This is especially of interest for investigating loudspeaker-based methods that rely on a large number of loudspeakers, which might be hard to realize in a listening test [9]. The study employs binaural simulations of the loudspeaker reproduction systems and compares listener preferences obtained with those simulations and the actual loudspeaker setups.We assess those three questions in paired comparison listening tests asking listeners to rate their preference. Experiment I investigates the influence of the reproduction system and four different mixing parameter on listeners' preference ratings for one ...

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Section: Stimuli 221 Audio Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Several multichannel methods that provide a higher number of surrounding loudspeakers are available as well [2]. More loudspeakers can lead to a higher emotional reaction and encourage deep immersion of listeners during reproduction [3].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Listener Preference for Wave Field Synthesis, Stereophony, and Different Mixes in Popular Music

Wierstorf¹,

Hold²,

Raake³

2018

J. Audio Eng. Soc.

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“…The rooms are: Vislab, an acoustically treated lab (room volume V=240 m 3 ; RT60=0.80 s (0.5-4 kHz); source distance d=1.7 m); Studio 1, a classical recording studio (V=1615 m 3 ; RT60=1.11 s; d=3 m); Church I, a Victorian church (1904) with thick concrete walls and thinly carpeted floor (V=1027 m 3 ; RT60=1.31 s; d=3 m); and Church II, a modern church (1991) with brick walls, large wooden roof, and carpeted floor (V=2857 m 3 ; RT60=1.41 s; d=5 m) 1 . Each recording was made with a bi-circular array of 48 Countryman B3 omni lavalier microphones [52], and with Genelec 8020B (Vislab), 8030A (Church I and II), and 1030A (Studio 1) loudspeakers, respectively.…”

Section: Datasetsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A spatial audio scene, or components of a scene, can be represented by channel-based, transform-based, or objectbased approaches [1]. For channel-based approaches, the engineer must mix for each target reproduction system, and the actual loudspeaker feeds are transmitted.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Object-Based Reverberation for Spatial Audio

Coleman¹,

Franck²,

Jackson³

et al. 2017

J. Audio Eng. Soc.

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Object-based audio is gaining momentum as a means for future audio content to be more immersive, interactive, and accessible. Recent standardization developments make recommendations for object formats; however, the capture, production, and reproduction of reverberation is an open issue. In this paper parametric approaches for capturing, representing, editing, and rendering reverberation over a 3D spatial audio system are reviewed. A framework is proposed for a Reverberant Spatial Audio Object (RSAO), which synthesizes reverberation inside an audio object renderer. An implementation example of an object scheme utilizing the RSAO framework is provided, and supported with listening test results, showing that: the approach correctly retains the sense of room size compared to a convolved reference; editing RSAO parameters can alter the perceived room size and source distance; and, format-agnostic rendering can be exploited to alter listener envelopment.

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“…Scenarios where a finite number of loudspeakers are used as secondary sources for soundfield reproduction, are limited to accurate reproduction below a (spatial aliasing) frequency [9]. A fundamental issue with MSR using discrete secondary sources is that the spatial aliasing induces so-called grating lobes which can interfere across zones [10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reproducing personal sound zones using a hybrid synthesis of dynamic and parametric loudspeakers

Donley

Ritz

Kleijn

2016

2016 Asia-Pacific Signal and Information Processing Association Annual Summit and Conference (APSIPA)

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This paper proposes a hybrid approach to personal sound zones utilising multizone soundfield reproduction techniques and parametric loudspeakers. Crossover filters are designed, to switch between reproduction methods, through analytical analysis of aliasing artifacts in multizone reproductions. By realising the designed crossover filters, wideband acoustic contrast between zones is significantly improved. The trade-off between acoustic contrast and the bandwidth of the reproduced soundfield is investigated. Results show that by incorporating the proposed hybrid model the whole wideband bandwidth is spatial-aliasing free with a mean acoustic contrast consistently above 54.2dB, an improvement of up to 24.2dB from a non-hybrid approach, with as few as 16 dynamic loudspeakers and one parametric loudspeaker. Abstract-This paper proposes a hybrid approach to personal sound zones utilising multizone soundfield reproduction techniques and parametric loudspeakers. Crossover filters are designed, to switch between reproduction methods, through analytical analysis of aliasing artifacts in multizone reproductions. By realising the designed crossover filters, wideband acoustic contrast between zones is significantly improved. The trade-off between acoustic contrast and the bandwidth of the reproduced soundfield is investigated. Results show that by incorporating the proposed hybrid model the whole wideband bandwidth is spatial-aliasing free with a mean acoustic contrast consistently above 54.2dB, an improvement of up to 24.2dB from a nonhybrid approach, with as few as 16 dynamic loudspeakers and one parametric loudspeaker.

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Spatial Sound With Loudspeakers and Its Perception: A Review of the Current State

Cited by 110 publications

References 43 publications

Listener Preference for Wave Field Synthesis, Stereophony, and Different Mixes in Popular Music

Listener Preference for Wave Field Synthesis, Stereophony, and Different Mixes in Popular Music

Object-Based Reverberation for Spatial Audio

Reproducing personal sound zones using a hybrid synthesis of dynamic and parametric loudspeakers

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