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.     

Low-frequency horizontal acoustic refraction caused by internal wave solitons in a shallow sea

The effect of internal wave solitons on the sound field generated by a point source in a shallow sea is considered. In the framework of the theory of “horizontal rays and vertical modes,” the sound field pattern governed by the aforementioned hydrodynamic effect is investigated. It is shown that solitons can induce time-periodic focusing and defocusing of horizontal rays propagating at shallow angles to the internal wave front. This may result in the formation of “dynamical” horizontal sound channels, which, in its turn, results in considerable temporal fluctuations of the field along the acoustic track oriented along the internal wave front. For the sound field calculations, an approach is developed on the basis of the parabolic approximation in the horizontal plane and the mode representation in the vertical direction. The results obtained can be used for remote monitoring of internal wave packets in a shallow sea.     

Horizontal refraction of sound rays due to short-period internal waves in the ocean

The effect of a short-period internal wave measured in field conditions on the horizontal (side) refraction of sound rays is estimated. The angle of horizontal refraction, i.e., the angle between the direction of the signal arrival in the horizontal plane and the true direction to the sound source, is determined. The influence of various factors, such as the position of the receiving system in depth with respect to the layer of high sound velocity gradients, the rotation of the transmitter-receiver track with respect to the internal wave front, etc., on the horizontal refraction is estimated. Numerical calculations are carried out. Conclusions about the possible errors that arise in determining the azimuth direction to the sound source because of the effect of short-period internal waves are derived.     

深海不平海底对声场水平纵向相关性的影响

海底地形变化对与海底作用的声反射区声场空间相关性有重要影响。利用南中国海某深海海域的一次声学实验数据,对深海海底反射区的声场空间相关性进行了分析。实验观测到,在距离声源约29 km至35 km距离范围处,不平海底环境下的水平纵向相关性出现了一些不同于平坦海底环境下的振荡结构,利用射线声学理论分析并解释了这两种不同海底环境产生水平纵向相关差异的原因。结果表明,在深海平坦海底方向一次海底反射到达区,对声场起主要贡献的经过一次海底反射声线间的到达时间差随着水平距离的增加而逐渐减少,从而干涉叠加后的相位差在[0,2π]内发生周期性变化,导致该区域声场的水平纵向相关性随着间距增加呈周期性振荡现象;而不平海底方向的海底小山丘恰对一次海底反射声线的阻挡影响,不仅使得与平坦海底方向相同区域的声传播损失明显增大,而且由于相对更多的本征声线路径的复杂多途干涉,该区域水平纵向相关性不再呈现明显的振荡周期,相关系数也有所下降。研究结果对于分析在深海复杂海底地形环境下的声呐阵列探测性能具有重要意义。      

Space-time sound field interference in the horizontal plane in a coastal slope region

The nonstationary interference structure formed in the horizontal plane in the field of a point source in a coastal slope region is analyzed on the basis of the space-time horizontal ray concept. For a model that includes the typical bathymetry and sound velocity profile, the space, time, and frequency dependences of the sound field are considered for different waveguide modes. The characteristic scales of the field variability in space and time are estimated. The frequency-time diagram is analyzed for the region of the interference of direct and reflected waves. The variability of the field interference structure in the presence of mesoscale perturbations is considered.     

Determination of the Source Bearing in a Waveguide by Using the Sound Field Interference Pattern

The feasibility of determining the source bearing in a waveguide by an extended horizontal line array with the use of the sound field interference pattern is studied. The sound field is generated by an omnidirectional monochromatic point source and is represented as a sum of modes. The case of a small number of lowfrequency modes is considered.     

空气中声源激发水下声场的水平纵向相关性

声场的空间相关特性是声场的重要特征,对水下探测、水声通讯等各种设备在实际海洋环境中应用的参数选择具有重要意义,是水声工程技术研究的重要基础之一。相比于水中声源激发声场的相关特性研究,空气中声源的相关研究很少。本文推导了空气中声源激发水下声场的水平纵向相关的简正波表达式,并通过数值仿真分析,比较了声源分别位于空气中和水中时水下声场的水平纵向相关特性。对南海海域进行的一次悬挂汽笛空气声源、海底水平阵接收信号海上实验获得的数据进行分析,结果表明:空气中声源位于不同距离时,其发射的声信号激发水下声场的水平纵向相关均存在明显的起伏结构,基于本文提出的空气中声源激发水下声场的水平纵向相关系数的简正波表达式能够较好地解释该现象.      

Calculation of temporal, angular, and intensity characteristics of the sound field in a coastal area with an arbitrary bottom relief and a constant sound speed in the medium

Computational algorithms and some computed data are presented for the total sound field in a waveguide whose depth arbitrarily depends on two horizontal coordinates. The sound speed is supposed to be constant, and the bottom slopes are considered as small. The algorithm involves three steps. First, horizontal rays, i.e., horizontal projections of the real rays multiply bottom-and surface-reflected, are calculated. Second, the horizontal rays are set up to a point. Third, the real rays are set up to a point. The computational accuracy is analyzed for a homogeneous wedge lying on a halfspace. Calculations are carried out for a coastal region of the ocean.     

The horizontal structure of the sound field in the ocean

Results of calculating the horizontal structure of acoustic field in the ocean with a canonical sound velocity profile are presented. The calculation is performed in the framework of geometrical acoustics by combining the fields of water-path rays at every point with allowance for their phases and amplitudes. The field distribution at a fixed depth is found to be not very informative: within a cycle length, it contains 1–3 maxima, which are mainly caused by the caustics present at the given depth. The width of caustics is ～0.1–1 km. Between the caustics, as well as in their absence, the field amplitude is much smaller than that in the regions of caustics and varies depending on the phases and amplitudes of rays arriving at a given point. The comparison of the calculated horizontal field structure with that obtained from full-scale measurements for the regions between the caustics is difficult because of the possible fluctuations of sound propagation conditions.     

Wave field synthesis of a sound field described by spherical harmonics expansion coefficients

Near-field compensated higher order Ambisonics (NFC-HOA) and wave field synthesis (WFS) constitute the two best-known analytic sound field synthesis methods. While WFS is typically used for the synthesis of virtual sound scenes, NFC-HOA is typically employed in order to synthesize sound fields that have been captured with appropriate microphone arrays. Such recorded sound fields are essentially represented by the coefficients of the underlying surface spherical harmonics expansion. A sound field described by such coefficients cannot be straightforwardly synthesized in WFS. This is a consequence of the fact that, unlike in NFC-HOA, it is critical in WFS to carefully select those loudspeakers that contribute to the synthesis of a given sound source in a sound field under consideration. In order to enable such a secondary source selection, it is proposed to employ the well-known concept of decomposing the sound field under consideration into a continuum of plane waves, for which the secondary source selection is straightforward. The plane wave representation is projected onto the horizontal plane and a closed form expression of the secondary source driving signals for horizontal WFS systems of arbitrary convex shape is derived.     

Frequency shifts of the sound field interference pattern in shallow water because of second-mode soliton-like internal waves

Numerical simulation is carried out to analyze the effect of an internal soliton of the second gravity mode on low-frequency sound propagation in an oceanic shelf region. The simulation is performed using the data of a full-scale experiment performed on the shelf of the South China Sea near Dongsha atoll, where the aforementioned solitons had been detected by stationary vertical thermistor arrays. The calculations take into account the effect of horizontal refraction of sound waves. It is assumed that a stationary acoustic track is oriented across the predominant propagation direction of internal waves. The results of simulation show that, when the soliton crosses the stationary track, some of the sound field modes are focused, whereas other modes are defocused. It is demonstrated that the soliton parameters can be adequately determined from the frequency shifts of the sound field interference pattern. However, such an estimate of the soliton parameters is only possible for a limited length of the stationary track for which the effect of horizontal refraction is sufficiently weak.     

基于矢量水听器的深海直达波区域声传播特性及其应用

对于深海近水面声源产生的声场, 处于较大深度处的接收器在一定水平距离范围内能接收到直达波. 2014年在某深海海域进行的水声考察实验中, 应用深度为140 m的拖曳声源发射实验信号, 布放在水下3146 m深处的矢量水听器成功地接收到了直达波信号. 本文应用射线理论, 分析了深海直达波区域声场的传播特性, 得出了水平振速与垂直振速的传播损失与声线到达接收点处的掠射角以及收发水平距离之间的关系. 在以上分析的基础上, 提出了一种利用水平振速与垂直振速的能量差估计声源距离的方法, 并结合2014年实验数据对实验中两条航线上8 km范围内的目标声源进行了测距, 测距结果与目标的GPS数据符合得较好.     

Spatial structure of the coherence parameter of the sound field in an irregular arctic waveguide

Results of numerical simulation of the total and coherent sound fields and the coherence parameter for a multimode acoustic signal excited by a monochromatic sound source and propagating in an irregular arctic waveguide are presented. Expressions used as the basis for the algorithm of the sound field calculation by the method of coupled normal modes are given. Both regular and stochastic sound scattering by horizontal inhomogeneities of the bottom, water medium, and ice cover are taken into account. It is found that, in the course of sound propagation in an arctic waveguide, an anomalous variation of the energy coherence parameter of the sound field as a function of distance is observed. This variation manifests itself in the form of local peaks of the field coherence parameter. This fact should be taken into account in both the measurements of the ice cover characteristics by acoustic methods and the evaluation of the efficiency of the operation of receiving arrays.     

三维绝热简正波-抛物方程理论及应用

复杂海域通常存在环境参数的水平变化,这会导致声波在传播过程中发生水平折射,呈现出三维效应.利用绝热简正波-抛物方程理论进行三维声场建模,在垂直方向上使用标准简正波模型KRAKEN求解本征值和本征函数,水平方向上使用宽角抛物方程模型RAM求解简正波幅度.该模型物理意义清晰,计算效率高,但由于忽略了各号简正波之间的耦合,只适用于环境参数水平变化缓慢的问题.使用该模型分析了内波环境和大陆架楔形波导中的声波水平折射现象,结果表明,声波的水平折射将水平平面分为不同区域,每个区域内的声场结构明显不同.此外,声强在水平平面内的分布与声源频率和简正波号数有关,这种依赖关系是导致声信号频谱变化、波形畸变以及声场时空扰动的主要原因.     

Pekeris波导中简正波的复声强及其应用

在Pekeris波导模型下,关注了简正波的矢量场,讨论了简正波水平复声强和垂直复声强的表述,并分析了其特征.单阶简正波在水平方向是行波,相应的水平复声强仅为有功的;在垂直方向为驻波,相应的垂直复声强仅为无功的.而多阶简正波相互干涉,因此总声场的复声强既有有功分量,也有无功分量,其中只有有功分量参与声能的输运,但无功分量是反映声场信息的重要组成部分.通过对垂直(交互)复声强无功分量和水平交互复声强有功分量的数值分析,对于甚低频率的点源声场,发现当声源深度变化时,上述声场分量的正负号呈有规变化,当接收传感器置 关键词： 目标深度分类 复声强 矢量场 Pekeris波导     

Sound field phase front variations in shallow water in the presence of intense internal waves

The method of vertical modes and horizontal rays and the method of parabolic equation in the horizontal plane are used to study space-time fluctuations of the phase front of the sound field in the presence of a train of internal waves passing through the acoustic path. The possibility of measuring the distortions of the phase front with a simultaneous filtering of modes by a horizontal array is analyzed. A numerical simulation is carried out for the conditions corresponding to the Eastern coast of United States and the Barents Sea.     

Near-field acoustic characteristics of screech jet exhausted from a nozzle with a hard reflecting plate

The standing wave in the near field of the screech jet exhausted from a nozzle with a hard plate works on the jet flow as the forcing wave by the location of a reflecting plate, and then jet flow is considered to be changed. Moreover, the reflector location from the nozzle changes the sound pressure contours of the near field. Intensity maps of the screech tone which indicate the propagation to the jet axial direction or the radial direction of the jet by the presence of the reflector plate have not been explored. In the present paper, acoustic characteristics in the near field of the screech tone with the reflecting plate are studied using an optical wave microphone, which can measure the sound propagating for both vertical and horizontal directions to the jet axis. As a result, the standing wave in the near field of the screech jet with the reflector has two types: One is the standing wave between the hydrodynamic pressure fluctuation propagating jet downstream and the sound pressure propagating upstream, and the other is the standing wave by the difference between the wavelength of the sound wave and the wavelength at the place close to the jet.     

Rearrangement of the horizontal space-time structure of the sound field in shallow water in the presence of moving internal waves

The rearrangement of the space-time structure of the sound field in a shallow-water waveguide with a moving intense internal wave packet is considered. The analysis is performed in terms of an approach characterized by space-time horizontal rays and vertical modes. It is shown that, within the time the packet travels over the acoustic track (about an hour), considerable spatial and temporal fluctuations occur in the field intensity and interference structure.     

深海海底山环境下声传播水平折射效应研究

声波在深海海底山环境中传播时,海底山会对声传播产生重要影响.2016年在南海深海进行了一次海底山环境下的声传播实验,观测到了由海底山引起的三维声传播效应,本文利用BELLHOP射线理论解释了海底山环境下的三维声传播机理.结果表明：声波在传播过程中与海底山作用后破坏了深海会聚区结构,导致传播损失增大,在海底山后形成具有明显边界的声水平折射区,利用二维声传播模型无法解释实验现象,海底山后声水平折射区实验测量的声场结构与N×2D模型计算结果存在明显差异,实验的传播损失比N×2D模型计算结果大10 dB.通过三维射线模型分析N×2D模型计算结果与实验结果存在明显差异产生的原因,发现由于声波水平折射作用,部分声线无法到达接收器,使得三维声传播效应对海底山后一定角度范围内声场影响较为明显.因此,深海海底山会引起明显的三维水平折射效应,应在水下目标探测和定位等应用中给予重视.     

Features of the energy structure of acoustic fields in the ocean with two-dimensional random inhomogeneities

The paper is devoted to the analytic study and numerical simulation of mid-frequency acoustic signal propagation in a two-dimensional inhomogeneous random shallow-water medium. The study was carried out by the cross section method (local modes). We present original theoretical estimates for the behavior of the average acoustic field intensity and show that at different distances, the features of propagation loss behavior are determined by the intensity of fluctuations and their horizontal scale and depend on the initial regular parameters, such as the emission frequency and size of sound losses in the bottom. We establish analytically that for the considered waveguide and sound frequency parameters, mode coupling effect has a local character and weakly influences the statistics. We establish that the specific form of the spatial spectrum of sound velocity inhomogeneities for the statistical patterns of the field intensity is insignificant during observations in the range of shallow-water distances of practical interest.