重放自由场虚拟源距离信息的动态双耳Ambisonics方法

双耳重放的目标之一是在耳机重放中产生不同方向和距离的虚拟源感知。本文研究了动态双耳Ambisonics重放自由场虚拟源方向和距离信息的简化信号处理方法。该信号处理方法包括两步:第1步是基于目标声场的球谐函数分解,合成采用扬声器的近场Ambisonics重放中逐级重构目标声场的信号;第2步是采用虚拟扬声器重放的方法,用动态头相关函数滤波处理将Ambisonics的扬声器重放信号转换为双耳重放信号并用耳机重放。进一步研究了动态双耳Ambisonics的阶数对定位效果的影响,为简化信号处理提供依据。对重放产生的双耳声压分析表明,5阶动态双耳Ambisonics重放足以提供听觉方向定位和距离感知的重要信息。同时心理声学的实验结果表明,结合声源距离相关的响度因素,5阶动态双耳Ambisonics重放可产生不同方向和1.0 m以下不同近场距离的自由场虚拟源的听觉感知。本文的方法仅需要固定距离的48个均匀空间方向的远场非个性化HRTF处理,实现了信号处理的简化。     

5.1通路环绕声的耳机虚拟重放

提出了一种改进的5.1通路环绕声的耳机虚拟重放信号处理方法。在对现有的信号处理方法进行分析,指出它会产生不自然主观听觉效果后,通过理论和心理声学实验证明,采用HRTF信号处理、环绕声信号去相关等方法,在克服普通耳机声重放的“头中定位”的缺点、虚拟出多环绕扬声器效果的同时,并未带来新的不自然听觉效果。因此信号处理方法可增加听觉上的包围感,从而改善耳机重放的主观听觉效果。     

前方空间环绕声的四扬声器虚拟重放

考虑头部转动带来的动态因素对听觉垂直定位的贡献,提出了前方空间环绕声的四扬声器虚拟重放方法。4个扬声器分别布置在水平面左前、右前以及高仰角的左前上、右前上方向,并采用听觉传输信号处理的方法将多通路空间环绕声信号转换为4个扬声器的重放信号。以9.1通路空间环绕声虚拟重放为例,采用头相关传输函数对双耳声压及其包含的定位因素进行分析表明,该方法可以产生正确的双耳时间差及其随头部转动的变化,从而产生合适的侧向定位双耳因素和垂直定位的动态因素。而心理声学实验结果表明,该方法可以重放稳定的前方空间的水平和垂直虚拟源。因此,四扬声器布置结合听觉传输处理足以重放前方空间环绕声的垂直定位信息,实现多通路空间环绕声的向下混合与简化。     

两扬声器虚拟声重放的双耳声压控制与定位性能

在两扬声器虚拟声重放中,通过精确重构双耳声压而产生不同的空间听觉感知。其重放的定位性能应该是由双耳声压控制的代价和稳定性所共同决定的。过去研究主要对双耳声压控制的稳定性进行分析,并以此作为扬声器布置和信号处理的依据。该文研究表明仅对双耳声压的稳定性分析是不足以完全衡量扬声器虚拟声重放的定位性能的。进一步采用虚拟声信号处理滤波器响应平均功率对双耳声压控制的代价进行分析。结果表明,缩窄左右对称扬声器布置的张角或采用非对称扬声器布置会明显增加产生侧向目标虚拟源时的双耳声压控制代价。虚拟源(虚拟声像)定位实验表明,双耳声压控制代价增加会引起虚拟源定位缺陷。实际应用中,为了有效产生侧向虚拟源,应避免采用过窄张角(如立体声偶极)和非对称的扬声器布置。     

一种5.1通路环绕声的动态双耳重放方法

为改善5.1通路环绕声的双耳重放性能,提出一种基于低价头踪迹跟踪模块的动态双耳重放方法。头踪迹跟踪模块通过单片机采集磁传感器、加速度传感器的输出数据,计算出倾听者头部水平方向信息,并将其经USB接口传给计算机进行动态双耳声信号合成。心理声学实验表明,本文提出的方法可以消除虚拟声源前后混乱和头中定位现象,提升5.1通路环绕声双耳重放的虚拟声源定位性能。     

个性化头相关传输函数的近似获取——现状和问题

虚拟听觉重放采用头相关传输函数(HRTF)合成双耳声信号,并用耳机重放,以产生所需的空间听觉事件。理想的虚拟听觉重放需要个性化HRTF。个性化HRTF可通过实验测量或数值计算相对地准确获得。然而,测量每个潜在使用者的高空间分辨率HRTF是困难的,而数值计算HRTF的频段往往受限于计算机性能。近年发展了多种HRTF的近似获取方法,并成为热门研究课题,但效果有待验证和提高。本文评述了个性化HRTF近似的研究进展,指出了存在的问题和今后的方向。     

不同测量对头相关传输函数的听觉影响

头相关传输函数(HRTF)是虚拟听觉重放的核心·目前,HRTF的实验室测量缺乏统一的规范。本文研究了不同测量对HRTF的听觉影响。首先提出了扩散场均衡的预处理方法,并对来自5个不同数据库的KEMAR假人的HRTF数据进行了扩散场均衡;然后,采用谱差异评估了不同数据库HRTF测量的频谱差异;最后,采用HRTF合成的虚拟声信号开展了一系列的主观听音实验,包括定位实验和区分实验·结果表明,扩散场均衡是一种有效的HRTF预处理方法,可以减小不同测量对HRTF频谱的影响;不同测量基本上不影响HRTF在12 kHz以下的定位效果,但对音色的影响较大,从而导致听觉上的可区分.     

扬声器的特性不匹配对虚拟声像的影响

本文从理论和实验上探讨了扬声器的特性不匹配对重放虚拟声像的影响。结果表明,用两扬声器进行虚拟听觉重放时,在某些频率段和虚拟声像角度,两扬声器间很小的幅频特性差异或相频特性差异都足以对虚拟声像方向产生明显的影响。扬声器特性的差异对前方范围的声像影响较小,但对侧向范围的声像影响较大,因而两扬声器的特性不匹配也是导致虚拟听觉重放时侧向声像位置畸变的重要原因之一。而在实际应用中要特别注意两扬声器的特性匹配,或者要用信号处理的方法对两扬声器的特性进行校正。     

一种用于手持式播放装置的立体声扩展方法

手持式播放装置的一对立体声扬声器相对倾听者的张角窄、距离近,影响立体声重放效果。针对这类应用提出了一种立体声扩展方法,它采用远场和近场头相关传输函数(HRTF)设计听觉传输滤波器并将低频信号滤除。该方法适应了近距离扬声器重放并避免了窄张角扬声器布置带来的信号处理中过分的低频提升问题。该方法不但能改善重放性能,且对计算和存储量要求较低,适合于手持式播放装置的信号处理硬件配置。声像定位实验验证了该方法的效果。     

用于移动机器人听觉导航的光纤麦克风阵列研制

听觉感知是移动机器人不可或缺的功能,传统电声式麦克风灵敏度较低、易受电磁干扰,致使移动机器人听觉感知能力较差,使用受到很大限制。采用自制的Fabry-Perot干涉式（FPI）光纤麦克风代替电声式麦克风,在市售移动机器人平台上构建了四元十字型光纤麦克风阵列,设计了基于FPGA的信号处理与声源定位算法程序,实现了机器人听觉感知与被动式声导航功能。介绍了FPI光纤麦克风的工作原理,测试并比较其与市售驻极体麦克风的灵敏度;优化了基于FPGA的声达时差（Time Difference of Arrival,TDOA）定位算法,完成了移动机器人搭载声源定位系统的设计与集成。实验表明移动机器人搭载的光纤麦克风声源定位系统具有水平全向声源定位功能,在平均距离为6.60 m的情况下,室内定位方位角平均误差为1.54°、距离平均误差为0.09 m;室外定位方位角平均误差为1.84°、距离平均误差为0.16 m,具有较高的精确度与稳定性;且移动机器人均能准确到达声源处完成声导航功能,具有很强的实用性与广阔的应用前景。     

On the externalization of virtual sound images in headphone reproduction: a Wiener filter approach

In-head localization of sound images is a critical problem in headphone reproduction. The paper investigates the degree of externalization in terms of the distance of auditory images for various synthesis and reproduction cases. An effective binaural headphone system was constructed by way of binaural synthesis using head-related impulse responses and individual headphone equalization using Wiener filter theory. The headphone system designed had an average reproduction performance error of 2.4% for five subjects with a random noise input, and was used to perform some subjective tests with a set of virtual sources equally spaced and distanced from the center of each subject's head in the horizontal plane. The effects of individual and nonindividual binaural syntheses and those of equalized and nonequalized reproductions were separately investigated. In the tests, each subject was instructed to indicate the distance of auditory images. The results obtained demonstrate that individual equalization is important for externalization, and individual synthesis is important for consistent distance perception. Thus, a combined use of both individual equalization and individual synthesis resulted in externalized sound images of a consistent distance.     

The effect of visual and auditory cues on seat preference in an opera theater

Opera performance conveys both visual and auditory information to an audience, and so opera theaters should be evaluated in both domains. This study investigates the effect of static visual and auditory cues on seat preference in an opera theater. Acoustical parameters were measured and visibility was analyzed for nine seats. Subjective assessments for visual-only, auditory-only, and auditory-visual preferences for these seat positions were made through paired-comparison tests. In the cases of visual-only and auditory-only subjective evaluations, preference judgment tests on a rating scale were also employed. Visual stimuli were based on still photographs, and auditory stimuli were based on binaural impulse responses convolved with a solo tenor recording. For the visual-only experiment, preference is predicted well by measurements taken related to the angle of seats from the theater midline at the center of the stage, the size of the photographed stage view, the visual obstruction, and the distance from the stage. Sound pressure level was the dominant predictor of auditory preference in the auditory-only experiment. In the cross-modal experiments, both auditory and visual preferences were shown to contribute to overall impression, but auditory cues were more influential than the static visual cues. The results show that both a positive visual-only or a positive auditory-only evaluations positively contribute to the assessments of seat quality.     

Speech intelligibility improvements with hearing aids using bilateral and binaural adaptive multichannel Wiener filtering based noise reduction

This paper evaluates noise reduction techniques in bilateral and binaural hearing aids. Adaptive implementations (on a real-time test platform) of the bilateral and binaural speech distortion weighted multichannel Wiener filter (SDW-MWF) and a competing bilateral fixed beamformer are evaluated. As the SDW-MWF relies on a voice activity detector (VAD), a realistic binaural VAD is also included. The test subjects (both normal hearing subjects and hearing aid users) are tested by an adaptive speech reception threshold (SRT) test in different spatial scenarios, including a realistic cafeteria scenario with nonstationary noise. The main conclusions are: (a) The binaural SDW-MWF can further improve the SRT (up to 2 dB) over the improvements achieved by bilateral algorithms, although a significant difference is only achievable if the binaural SDW-MWF uses a perfect VAD. However, in the cafeteria scenario only the binaural SDW-MWF achieves a significant SRT improvement (2.6 dB with perfect VAD, 2.2 dB with real VAD), for the group of hearing aid users. (b) There is no significant degradation when using a real VAD at the input signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) levels where the hearing aid users reach their SRT. (c) The bilateral SDW-MWF achieves no SRT improvements compared to the bilateral fixed beamformer.     

A Comparison on the Localization Performance of Static and Dynamic Binaural Ambisonics Reproduction with Different Order

Ambisonics is a series of spatial sound reproduction system based on spatial harmonics decomposition and each order approximation of sound field. Ambisonics signals are originally intended for loudspeakers reproduction. By using head-related transfer functions (HRTFs) filters, binaural Ambisonics converts the Ambisonics signals for static or dynamic headphone reproduction. In present work, the performances of static and dynamic binaural Ambisonics reproduction are evaluated and compared. The mean binaural pressure errors across target source directions are first analyzed. Then a virtual source localization experiment is conducted, and the localization performances are evaluated by analyzing the percentages of front-back and up-down confusion, the mean angle error and discreteness in the localization results. The results indicate that binaural Ambsonics reproduction with insufficiently high order (for example, 5-10 order) is unable to recreate correct high-frequency magnitude spectra in binaural pressures, resulting in degradation in localization for static reproduction. Because dynamic localization cue is included, dynamic binaural Ambisoncis reproduction yields obviously better localization performance than static reproduction with the same order. Even a 3-order dynamic binaural Ambisoncis reproduction exhibits appropriate localizations performance.     

冲击下花岗岩界面动态摩擦特性实验研究

 为研究岩石界面动态摩擦性能,对房山花岗岩进行了冲击速度42.2~130.6 m/s、倾斜角为20°和30°的横剖试样斜撞击实验。倾斜角为20°的为对比实验,研究不发生滑动时的界面性能;在倾斜角为30°的实验中,靶和飞片撞击界面发生相对滑动,用于研究发生界面滑动时的动态摩擦性能。基于此,研究了正应力在317~685 MPa、界面相对滑移速度在2.76~24.88 m/s时花岗岩界面滑动态摩擦状态。其结果可以初步揭示地震过程板块动态摩擦过程摩擦强度急剧降低的现象。     

Relating binaural pitch perception to the individual listener's auditory profile

The ability of eight normal-hearing listeners and fourteen listeners with sensorineural hearing loss to detect and identify pitch contours was measured for binaural-pitch stimuli and salience-matched monaurally detectable pitches. In an effort to determine whether impaired binaural pitch perception was linked to a specific deficit, the auditory profiles of the individual listeners were characterized using measures of loudness perception, cognitive ability, binaural processing, temporal fine structure processing, and frequency selectivity, in addition to common audiometric measures. Two of the listeners were found not to perceive binaural pitch at all, despite a clear detection of monaural pitch. While both binaural and monaural pitches were detectable by all other listeners, identification scores were significantly lower for binaural than for monaural pitch. A total absence of binaural pitch sensation coexisted with a loss of a binaural signal-detection advantage in noise, without implying reduced cognitive function. Auditory filter bandwidths did not correlate with the difference in pitch identification scores between binaural and monaural pitches. However, subjects with impaired binaural pitch perception showed deficits in temporal fine structure processing. Whether the observed deficits stemmed from peripheral or central mechanisms could not be resolved here, but the present findings may be useful for hearing loss characterization.     

Interaction between auditory and visual perceptions on distance estimations in a virtual environment

Navigation in virtual environments relies on an accurate spatial rendering. A virtual object is localized according to its position in the environment, which is usually defined by the following three coordinates: azimuth, elevation and distance. Even though several studies investigated the perception of auditory and visual cues in azimuth and elevation, little has been made on the distance dimension. This study aims at investigating the way humans estimate visual and auditory egocentric distances of virtual objects. Subjects were asked to estimate the egocentric distance of 2–20 m distant objects in three contexts: auditory perception alone, visual one alone, combination of both perceptions (with coherent and incoherent visual and auditory cues). Even though egocentric distance was under-estimated in all contexts, the results showed a higher influence of visual information than auditory information on the perceived distance. Specifically, the bimodal incoherent condition gave perceived distances equivalent to those in the visual-only condition only when the visual target was closer to the subject than the auditory target.     

Transfer effects on communication and collision avoidance behavior from playing a three-dimensional auditory game based on a virtual auditory display

Transfer effects on two everyday auditory skills from playing an auditory game using a virtual auditory display (VAD) were investigated using two groups of 20 normally sighted participants. Representative auditory skills of blindfolded participants were pre-tested using communication and collision avoidance tasks. They performed the tasks two weeks later. Participants in a training group played the VAD-based game on seven days (30 min/day) during the two weeks: control group participants did not. Playing the VAD-based game significantly increased face-contacts in the communication task and significantly improved participants’ collision avoidance. No significant differences were found between the groups’ subjective ratings of the rated tension levels during the communication task or between rated levels for the collision threat. Performance revealed transfer effects of playing the VAD-based game on communication behaviors in social interaction and on avoidance of approaching objects: VAD-based games are effective training tools for auditory skills used in daily life.