Violin acoustic radiation synthesis: A source model for direct sound enhancement in musical acoustic environments

Within the context of immersive acoustic environments (real or virtual) for purposes of musical performance, it is useful to recreate the acoustic field radiated by real musical instruments. Given the popularity of wave field synthesis for direct sound enhancement and other methods of holophonic sound imaging, source modeling is a desirable development for such musical applications. There exist careful directivity measurements of the sound radiation of the violin in the frequency range from 1 to 5 kHz, over which the far field directivity changes rapidly as a function of frequency [L. M. Wang, ‘‘Radiation Mechanisms from Bowed Violins,’’ Ph.D. thesis, Pennsylvania State University, 1999]. Source models based on these measurements using a cylindrical harmonic decomposition are presented. With this preliminary approach to violin acoustic radiation modeling, issues regarding further auralization of this synthesized field are subsequently addressed.