Binaural Assessment of Multichannel Reproduction

H Wierstorf, A Raake, S Spors, "Binaural Assessment of Multichannel Reproduction," in The Technology of Binaural Listening, Ed. J Blauert, p. 255-278 (2013). [ link ]

Bibtex

@inbook{Wierstorf2013c,
    title     = {Binaural Assessment of Multichannel Reproduction},
    author    = {Wierstorf, Hagen and Raake, Alexander and Spors, Sascha},
    booktitle = {The Technology of Binaural Listening},
    editor    = {Blauert, Jens},
    publisher = {Springer},
    address   = {Berlin Heidelberg},
    pages     = {255--278},
    year      = {2013},
    isbn      = {978-3-642-37762-4},
    doi       = {10.1007/978-3-642-37762-4_10},
    url       = {https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-37762-4_10}
}

Abstract

This chapter outlines the problem of evaluating multichannel reproduction by example of the wave-field synthesis method. This method is known for providing good localization of reproduced source within an extended listening area. The localization performance for a virtual point sources was investigated for various listener positions and loudspeaker-array configurations. Respective results of listening-test were compared with localization predictions by a binaural model. With this model, a localization map can be obtained that covers most listener positions within the synthesis area. With such a localization map, designers of loudspeaker-setups for wave-field synthesis can estimate the localization and localization accuracy to be expected from a given multichannel setup. To enable perception of sound sources at arbitrary positions within the synthesis area of a given wave-field synthesis implementation, input signals to the two ears had to be generated. This was realized by means of dynamic binaural synthesis, a technique that allows for instantaneous switching between different listening scenarios. In a formal pre-test, it was verified that dynamic binaural simulation has no influence on the listeners’ localization performance as compared to natural hearing. Both the test procedure and the modeling results can be taken as a basis for further research regarding the evaluation of multichannel reproduction, an area that is still sparsely covered.