Open AccessA Spatial Audio System Using Multiple Microphones on a Rigid Sphere
Author(s) -
Lee Taejin,
Jang Daeyoung,
Kang Kyeongok,
Kim Jinwoong,
Jeong DaeGwon,
Hamada Hareo
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
etri journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.295
H-Index - 46
eISSN - 2233-7326
pISSN - 1225-6463
DOI - 10.4218/etrij.05.0104.0071
Subject(s) - rendering (computer graphics) , microphone , stereophonic sound , computer science , microphone array , channel (broadcasting) , headphones , acoustics , binaural recording , sound recording and reproduction , loudspeaker , ambisonics , speech recognition , computer vision , telecommunications , physics
The main purpose of a spatial audio system is to give a listener the same impression as if he/she were present in a recorded environment. A dummy head microphone is generally used for such purposes. Because of its human‐like shape, we can obtain good spatial sound images. However, its shape is a restriction on its public use and it is difficult to convert a 2‐channel recording into multi‐channel signals for an efficient rendering over a multi‐speaker arrangement. In order to solve the problems mentioned above, a spatial audio system is proposed that uses multiple microphones on a rigid sphere. The system has five microphones placed on special points of the rigid sphere, and it generates audio signals for headphone, stereo, stereo dipole, 4‐channel, and 5‐channel reproduction environments. Subjective localization experiments show that front/back confusion, which is a common limitation of spatial audio systems using the dummy head microphone, can be reduced dramatically in 4‐channel and 5‐channel reproduction environments and can be reduced slightly in a headphone reproduction