Reproduction of spatialized audio

Abstract

Immersive environments for teleconferencing, collaborative shared spaces and entertainment require spatial audio. Such environments may have non-ideal sound reproduction conditions (loudspeaker positioning, listener placement or listening room geometry) where wavefront-synthesis techniques, such as ambisonics, will not give listeners the correct audio spatialization. A method disclosed for generating a sound field from a spatialized original audio signal, wherein the original signal is configured to produce an optimal sound percept at one predetermined ideal location. A plurality of output signal components are generated, each for reproduction by one of an array of loudspeakers. Antiphase output components are attenuated such that their contribution to the spatial sound percept is reduced for locations other than the predetermined ideal location. Position components defining the location of a virtual sound source, normalized to the loudspeaker distance from the ideal location, can be adapted to generate a warped sound field by raising the position components to a power greater than unity, such that the virtual sound source is perceived by listeners in the region surrounded by the loudspeakers to be spaced from the loudspeaker.