Signal Processing - May 2017 - 36

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Perceptual
Spatial
Audio
Recording,
Simulation,
and
Rendering
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MSP.2017.2666081
Date of publication: 26 April 2017

36

D

evelopments in immersive audio technologies have been evolving
in two directions: physically motivated systems 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, however, 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.

The spatial sound scene
Since Alan Blumlein introduced the original concept of stereophonic
recording using a pair of figure-eight microphones, spatial sound technologies have steadily grown in sophistication, complexity, and capabilities. Delivering a convincing illusion of a desired sound field requires
finding solutions to several problems at the intersection of physics, psychoacoustics, and engineering. First, the relevant sound-field information
needs to be identified, and methods for its acquisition devised, which
amounts to designing an array of microphones. Then, methods for rendering the identified spatial audio information in some optimal way need
to be developed. This requires the design of a playback system, including
a hardware configuration and the necessary signal processing algorithms.
If the spatial sound field is virtual, i.e., not generated by an actual acoustic event, the required playback signals need to be synthesized rather
than recorded. To that end, an accurate approximation of the desired
sound field would ideally be computed and then recorded using a virtual
microphone array, to be played via the corresponding actual loudspeaker
array. This process is referred to as auralization. However, due to the
very high numerical complexity of sound-field simulation methods, the
auditory perspective is typically first rendered via level differences
between pairs of loudspeakers and then overlaid by room effects. The

IEEE SIgnal
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Signal Processing - May 2017

Signal Processing - May 2017 - Cover1
Signal Processing - May 2017 - Cover2
Signal Processing - May 2017 - 1
Signal Processing - May 2017 - 2
Signal Processing - May 2017 - 3
Signal Processing - May 2017 - 4
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Signal Processing - May 2017 - 101
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Signal Processing - May 2017 - Cover3
Signal Processing - May 2017 - Cover4
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