A Virtual Endfire Loudspeaker Array for the Generation of Sound Beams

S. Spors, H Wierstorf, "A Virtual Endfire Loudspeaker Array for the Generation of Sound Beams," in Fortschritte der Akustik - DAGA 2013, p. 2349-2351 (2013). [ paper ]

Bibtex

@inproceedings{Spors2013a,
    title     = {A Virtual Endfire Loudspeaker Array for the Generation of
                 Sound Beams},
    author    = {Spors, Sascha and Wierstorf, Hagen},
    booktitle = {Fortschritte der Akustik - DAGA 2013},
    publisher = {DEGA e.V.},
    address   = {Merano, Italy},
    pages     = {2349--2351},
    month     = {March},
    year      = {2013}
}

Abstract

Endfire loudspeaker arrays together with appropriate beamforming techniques allow synthesizing sound fields which are confined to a narrow beam in direction of the array. The practical performance of endfire beamforming techniques is limited by the differences between the individual loudspeakers. Furthermore, the direction of the sound beam can be steered only to a very limited extend. Sound Field Synthesis techniques, like Wave Field Synthesis or the Spectral Division Method, allow synthesizing focused sources in front of broadside loudspeaker arrays. This contribution investigates the usage of focused sources as virtual loudspeakers in endfire configuration. The basic properties of focused sources are reviewed and assessed. Endfire beamforming techniques are employed in order to optimize the directivity characteristics of the virtual array. The overall performance of the approach is investigated in various aspects.