In the 1980s, Wave Field Synthesis (WFS) was introduced by Berkhout – at that time the head of the TU Delft Acoustics Labs - as a concept for spatial sound reproduction without the usual sweet spot limitations. The theory goes back to Huygens, Kirchhoff and Rayleigh. Using arrays of loudspeakers around the audience area, sound sources and their acoustic environment - in fact being a distribution of secondary image sources - can be reproduced with natural properties in time and space for, in principle, all listeners. WFS also enables to position the sources on other positions than their `natural` ones, thus creating an acoustical virtual reality or illusion. Applications are found in surround sound reproduction, often combined with visual projection - in cinemas, inteleconferencing, in electronic music performances etc. During the presentation, the physical backgrounds, the technological tools and some interesting applications will be discussed.
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