Influence of height-channel contents on enhancing spatial impressions through virtually elevated loudspeaker

Reproducing early reflections related to ``heigh' information through elevated loudspeakers delivers enhanced presence of auditory images and integrates with a three-dimensional visual content homogeneously. Nonetheless, it is practically difficult for consumers to place loudspeakers required for the height-channel reproduction in a listening room. To overcome this limitation, many academic or commercial institutions propose various methods that render vertical sound images and reproduce them with smaller number of loudspeakers that are typically located in the horizontal plane. The rendered image then could deliver vertically extended impression of a sound field, which is likely related to listeners' perception of enhanced presence. To better understand this relationship, this paper investigated idiosyncratic difference between one surround sound field with actual height channels and another with virtually elevated channels. The elicitation result revealed that listeners used four salient attributes - AS...