Sound localization of stereo reproduction with parametric loudspeakers

A parametric loudspeaker radiates an audible signal by the interaction of the primary wave that is amplitude modulated and is known as a super-directivity loudspeaker. The parametric loudspeaker is one of the prominent applications of nonlinear acoustics. So far, the applications have been limited monaural reproduction sound system for public address in museum, station, street etc. In this paper, we investigated sound localization of stereo reproduction using two parametric loudspeakers in comparison with that using two ordinary dynamic loudspeakers. In subjective tests, the binaural information ILD (Interaural Level Difference) or ITD (Interaural Time Delay) was focused on. To investigate the characteristics of sound localization in a wide listening area, three typical listening positions were picked up. Signals were 500 Hz, 1 kHz, 2 kHz and 4 kHz pure tones and pink noise. The used parametric loudspeaker was an equilateral hexagon. The subjective test led to the results that when the parametric loudspeakers were used, the listeners at the three typical listening positions perceived the correct sound localization of not only pure tone but also pink noise and when the ordinary dynamic loudspeakers were used, except for the case of pure tone with ITD, the tendency was almost similar to those using the parametric loudspeakers. The second subjective tests were conducted in order to investigate in details the difference between parametric loudspeakers and ordinary dynamic loudspeakers by increasing the number of subjects. In the case of ITD and 500 Hz using the ordinary dynamic loudspeakers, three types of sound localization were categorized, in which the reversed type was major and the normal and the other types were minor. The ILDs which were measured with a dummy head and were calculated with several formulas were almost the same and indicated the reasons of the reversed typed sound localization and a serious influence of the crosstalk. It was found that in the case of pure tone with ITD, the contradiction between the binaural information ILD and ITD is remarkable, because the directivity of the ordinary dynamic loudspeakers was so dull that the crosstalk components had a serious influence on sound localization. It was determined the parametric loudspeaker could transmit correct binaural information to the listener, because the directivity of the parametric loudspeakers was so sharp that it suppressed the cross talk components.     

The evaluation of binaural playback systems for virtual sound fields

By means of virtual acoustics technologies the impulse response in a location of a real enclosure can be used to create a virtual room. Also in this virtual space, typically implemented in a dead room, an impulse response can be measured. From both “real” and respective “virtual” impulse response a group of room-acoustical parameters can be calculated. The match of the two groups of indicators mostly depends on the layout of the playback system and on the implemented processing. In this paper a procedure of virtual measurement in a dead room is developed and some typical layouts of playback systems employing two loudspeakers are compared. Based on the consistency of the room-acoustical indicators derived from “real” and “virtual” impulse responses can be investigated. It is shown how the performance depends on the angular separation of loudspeakers and the efficiency of the cross-talk is also tested and discussed. Finally, a set-up which is suitable for psychoacoustics tests is indicated.     

A method of characterising performance of audio loudspeakers for linear alternator applications in low-cost thermoacoustic electricity generators

This paper investigates the feasibility of using commercially available loudspeakers as low-cost linear alternators for thermoacoustic applications, to convert acoustic power to electricity. The design of a purpose built experimental apparatus, in which a high intensity acoustic wave is induced by using a high power woofer, is described. The rig is used to excite loudspeakers (referred here as “alternators”) under test, while a pair of microphones and a laser displacement sensor are used to enable acoustic power measurements. The paper presents a case study in which characteristics of acoustic-to-electric energy conversion of a candidate loudspeaker (alternator) – selected from the viewpoint of general performance, as well as parameters such as: high force factor, low electrical resistance and low mechanical loss – are measured. The measurements of acoustic power absorbed by the alternator and the electric power extracted from it by the load resistor, which allow estimating acoustic-to-electric efficiencies, are presented. The alternator has been tested at different operating frequencies, cone displacements and load resistance values. The measurement results are discussed and compared in detail with the calculations based on the linear acoustics model.     

Spherical harmonic analysis of the sound radiation from omnidirectional loudspeaker arrays

Omnidirectional sound sources are widely used in room acoustics. These devices are made up of loudspeakers mounted on a spherical or polyhedral cabinet, where the dodecahedral shape prevails. Although such electroacoustic sources have been made readily available to acousticians by many manufacturers, an in-depth investigation of their vibroacoustic behavior has not been provided yet. In order to fulfill this lack, this paper presents a theoretical study of the sound radiation from omnidirectional loudspeaker arrays, which is carried out by using a mathematical model based on the spherical harmonic analysis. Eight different loudspeaker arrangements on the sphere are considered: the well-known five Platonic solid layouts and three extremal system layouts. The latter possess useful properties for spherical loudspeaker arrays used as directivity controlled sound sources, so that these layouts are included here in order to investigate whether or not they could be of interest as omnidirectional sources as well. It is shown through a comparative analysis that the dodecahedral array leads to the lowest error in producing an omnidirectional sound field and to the highest acoustic power, which corroborates the prevalence of such a layout. In addition, if a source with less than 12 loudspeakers is required, it is shown that tetrahedra or hexahedra can be used alternatively, whereas the extremal system layouts are not interesting choices for omnidirectional loudspeaker arrays.     

Acoustical performance of an electrostrictive polymer film loudspeaker

A new type of loudspeaker that generates sound by means of the electrostrictive response of a thin polymer film is described. Electrostrictive polymer film (EPF) loudspeakers are constructed with inexpensive, lightweight materials and have a very low profile. The films are typically silicone and are coated with compliant electrodes to allow large film deformations. Acoustical frequency response measurements from 5 x 5 cm (planar dimensions) prototype EPF loudspeakers are presented. Measurements of harmonic distortion are also shown, along with results demonstrating reduced harmonic distortion achieved with square-root wave shaping. Applications of EPF loudspeakers include active noise control and general-purpose flat-panel loudspeakers.     

A plane wave generation method by wave number domain point focusing

A method for generation of a wave-field that is a plane wave is described. This method uses an array of loudspeakers phased so that the field in the wave-number domain is nearly concentrated at a point, this point being at the wave-number vector of the desired plane wave. The method described here for such a wave-number concentration makes use of an expansion in spherical harmonics, and requires a relatively small number of measurement points for a good approximate achievement of a plane wave. The measurement points are on a spherical surface surrounding the array of loudspeakers. The input signals for the individual loudspeakers can be derived without a matrix inversion or without explicit assumptions about the loudspeakers. The mathematical development involves spherical harmonics and three-dimensional Fourier transforms. Some numerical examples are given, with various assumptions concerning the nature of the loudspeakers, that support the premise that the method described in the present paper may be useful in applications.     

Study of vertical sound image control with parametric loudspeakers

A parametric loudspeaker utilizes nonlinearity of a medium and is known as a super-directive loudspeaker. In this paper, the sound localization in the vertical direction using the upper and lower parametric loudspeakers is confirmed by listening tests and physical measurements. The differences in levels between the upper and lower parametric loudspeakers are varied as a parameter. The direction of sound localization in the vertical plane can be controlled not only when the acoustical axis is set to the right ear but also when it is set to at 5 deg to the right of the right ear. The effect of the level difference between the upper and lower loudspeakers is weaker than the differences observed when using ordinary loudspeakers. We obtained interesting characteristics of the left-right sound localization in the horizontal plane with the upper and lower parametric loudspeakers in the vertical plane. It is found that by setting the parametric loudspeaker at the right ear (that is, the horizontal angle of a listener to it is only 3 deg to the right), the direction of sound localization in the horizontal plane moved approximately 10 deg to the right. Moreover, by setting the parametric loudspeaker 5 deg to the right, the direction of sound localization moves approximately 20 deg to the right. The ILD (Interaural Level Difference) using a dummy head is calculated from the measured left and right sound signals. It is determined that ILDs of the parametric loudspeaker are larger than those of the ordinary loudspeaker. A simple geometrical acoustic model is introduced and analyzed. The analysis helps to explain the measured characteristics.     

Breakdown of echo suppression in the precedence effect

A new phenomenon is reported in which a change in spatial location of the leading sound source disrupts the normal echo suppression of the precedence effect. Click trains were presented through two loudspeakers, one leading the other by a few milliseconds. When leading and lagging signals were switched, listeners heard clicks momentarily for as long as several seconds from both loudspeakers before echo suppression was reestablished.     

Study of acoustic field modulation in the regenerator by double loudspeakers method

A model to modulate acoustic field in a regenerator of a thermoacoustic system by the double loudspeakers method is presented in this paper. The equations are derived for acoustic field modulation. They represent the relations among acoustic field (complex pressure p(0), complex velocity u(0), and acoustic impedance Z(0)), driving parameters of loudspeakers (voltage amplitude and its phase difference), and operating parameters involved in a matrix H (frequency, temperature of regenerator). The range of acoustic field is adjustable and limited by the maximal driving voltages of loudspeakers according to driving parameters. The range is simulated and analyzed in the amplitude-phase and complex coordinate planes for a given or variable H. The simulated results indicate that the range has its intrinsic characteristics. The expected acoustic field in a regenerator can be obtained feasibly by the modulation.     

Influence of the Number of Loudspeakers on the Timbre in Horizontal and Mixed-Order Ambisoncis Reproduction

Ambisonics is a series of flexible spatial sound reproduction systems based on spatial harmonics decomposition of sound field. Traditional horizontal and spatial Ambisonics reconstruct horizontal and spatial sound field with certain order of spatial harmonics, respectively. Both the Shannon-Nyquist spatial sampling frequency limit for accurately reconstructing sound field and the complexity of system increase with the increasing order of Ambisonics. Based on the fact that the horizontal localization resolution of human hearing is higher than vertical resolution, mixed-order Ambisonics (MOA) reconstructs horizontal sound field with higher order spatial harmonics, while reconstructs vertical sound field with lower order spatial harmonics, and thereby reaches a compromise between the perceptual performance and the complexity of system. For a given order horizontal Ambisoncis or MOA reproduction, the number of horizontal loudspeakers is flexible, providing that it exceeds some low limit. By using Moore’s revised loudness model, the present work analyzes the influence of the number of horizontal loudspeakers on timbre both in horizontal Ambisonics and MOA reproduction. The binaural loudness level spectra (BLLS) of Ambisoncis reproduction are calculated and then compared with those of target sound field. The results indicate that below the Shannon-Nyquist limit of spatial sampling, increasing the number of horizontal loudspeakers influence little on BLLS then timbre. Above the limit, however, the BLLS for Ambisoncis reproduction deviate from those of target sound field. The extent of deviation depends on both the direction of target sound field and the number of loudspeakers. Increasing the number of horizontal loudspeakers may increase the change of BLLS then timbre in some cases, but reduce the change in some other cases. For MOA, the influence of the number of horizontal loudspeakers on BLLS and timbre reduces when virtual source departs from horizontal plane to the high or low elevation. The subjective evaluation experiment also validates the analysis.     

Robustness to head misalignment of virtual sound imaging systems

When binaural sound signals are presented with two loudspeakers, the listener's ears are required to be in the relatively small region which is under control of the system. Misalignment of the head results in inaccurate synthesis of the binaural signals. Consequently, directional information associated with the acoustic signals is inaccurately reproduced. When the two loudspeakers are placed close together, the spatial rate of change of the generated sound field is much smaller than that generated by two loudspeakers spaced apart. Therefore, the performance of such a system is expected to be more robust to misalignment of the listener's head. Robustness of performance is investigated here with respect to head displacement in three translational and three rotational directions. A comparison is given between systems consisting of two loudspeakers either placed close together or spaced apart. The extent of effective control with head displacement and the resulting deterioration in directional information is investigated in the temporal and spectral domain by analyzing synthesized binaural signals. Subjective localization experiments are performed for cases in which notable differences in performance are expected from the previous analysis. It is shown that the system comprising two loudspeakers that are close together is very robust to misalignment of the listener's head.     

Influence of the Nonlinearity of Loudspeakers on the Performance of Thermoacoustic Refrigerators Driven by Current and Voltage

The influence of the nonlinearity of electrodynamic loudspeakers on the performance of thermoacoustic refrigerators with the loudspeakers as acoustic sources is studied by nonlinear equivalent circuit models of electrodynamic loudspeakers driven by current and voltage. The simulated results demonstrate that there are different nonlinear effects between current-drive and voltage-drive refrigerators, and the differences are mainly induced by the motional electromotive force caused by the coil moving in the magnetic field. With voltage driving, the influence of the nonlinearity of the loudspeaker on the diaphragm displacement and acoustic output power is much smaller than that with current driving. Therefore, considering the nonlinearity of the loudspeakers, a proper driving method must be chosen according to the practical applications although little difference is found with the linear models.     

Active control of double-glazed windowsPart I: Feedforward control

This paper describes an experimental investigation of an actively controlled double-glazed window. It is the first part of two companion papers, and it shows the results with a feedforward controller. In the second part about results obtained with adaptive feedback control will be reported. A laboratory version of the window was equipped with loudspeakers and microphones inside the cavity. Various positions of loudspeakers and microphones were tested with band-limited white noise excitation. Different combinations of distributed loudspeakers were realized driving them in parallel by single channels of the controller. Similarly the signals of microphones were summed to realize simple modal filters. Plane mode control as well as control of higher cavity modes were performed with a feedforward controller and the reference signal taken directly from the primary signal. Additionally tests with different traffic noise examples were performed showing the ability of the actively controlled window to enhance protection against traffic noise.     

Comparative measurements of loudspeakers in a listening situation

Comparison of loudspeakers is a major concern during design or product selection. There are several standards for the measurement of loudspeaker characteristics, but none of them provides hints for a rigorous comparison between devices. In this study, different ways of evaluating acoustical dissimilarity between loudspeakers were compared. Several methods of signal analysis were used, and for each method a metric evaluating the dissimilarity between two signals was defined. The correlation between the different dissimilarity evaluations over a significant panel of loudspeakers led to identified classes of measurements. A specific aspect of this work is that measurements were performed in a standard listening environment, rather than in an anechoic or reverberant one. It allowed the use of the recorded signals for a simple listening test, providing a perceptual metric which was compared to the acoustical ones. It also allowed the introduction of auditory models in the computation of some acoustical metrics, so defining a new class of measurements which gave results close to the perceptual ones.     

Directional perception of distributed sound sources

The perception of spatially distributed sound sources was investigated by conducting two listening experiments in anechoic conditions with 13 loudspeakers evenly distributed in the frontal horizontal plane emitting incoherent noise signals. In the first experiment, widely distributed sound sources with gaps in their distribution emitted pink noise. The results indicated that the exact loudspeaker distribution could not be perceived accurately and that the width of the distribution was perceived to be narrower than it was in reality. Up to three spatially distributed loudspeakers that were simultaneously emitting sound could be individually perceived. In addition, the number of loudspeakers that were indicated as emitting sound was smaller than the actual number. In the second experiment, a reference with 13 loudspeakers and test cases with fewer loudspeakers were presented and their perceived spatial difference was rated. The effect of the noise bandwidth was of particular interest. Noise with different bandwidths centered around 500 and 4000 Hz was used. The results indicated that when the number of loudspeakers was increased from four to seven, the perceived auditory event was very similar to that perceived with 13 loudspeakers at all bandwidths. The perceived differences were larger in wideband noise than in narrow-band noise.     

An analytical model for a dodecahedron loudspeaker applied to the design of omni-directional loudspeaker arrays

The dodecahedron (12 sided) loudspeaker is used extensively for acoustic measurements as an approximation to an omni-directional sound source, for example in building acoustics and automotive applications. In many instances its use is favoured above other omni-directional source approximations e.g. open pipe because of its greater power. However, analysis by other authors has shown that the radiation deviates from omni-directional above a certain frequency. In this paper an analytical model of the sound pressure field generated by a dodecahedron loudspeaker is constructed. The sound pressure field generated by the model is then compared with measured data and good agreement is demonstrated. Having established and validated the model, it is adapted to form alternative spherical loudspeaker arrays based on Platonic and Archimedean solid geometry and also a number of spherical packing routines. The aim of the analysis is to determine the optimal geometry for an omni-directional source using pistonic loudspeakers.The analysis shows that constructive interference of the pressure field across the spherical baffle surface and not individual loudspeaker pistonic radiation characteristics is the most significant factor with respect to deviations from omni-directional radiation for a complete spherical array. Consequently, loudspeaker elements which physically occupy the spherical baffle surface to their maximum extent provide the most extended frequency range of omni-directional operation. The most optimal spherical array distribution is shown to be the dodecahedron.     

参量阵扬声器在管道噪声控制中的研究*

为了解决管道有源噪声控制中声反馈造成的系统复杂度和计算量的增加,文中引入参量阵扬声器作为次级声源,利用其强指向性减小控制系统的声反馈。为了验证该方法可行性,本文分别在直管和L管中,对600 Hz单频噪声和频率范围为500 Hz~1000 Hz的窄带噪声进行了管道有源噪声控制,同时测量了参量阵扬声器的管内声场和降噪范围。结果表明,参量阵扬声器声反馈小,在没有声反馈补偿的条件下对单频噪声的降噪效果基本达到了声反馈补偿条件下普通扬声器的降噪效果,对窄带噪声的降噪效果稍差。此外,通过测量管道声场和降噪量,确定了参量阵扬声器的降噪区域为误差传感器下游整个管道,降噪面积为管道整个截面。这说明参量阵扬声器作为次级声源降低了系统的复杂度和算法的计算量,并取得了较好的降噪效果。