Journal Article
Analysis of and Experiments on Vertical Summing Localization of Multichannel Sound Reproduction with Amplitude Panning
Journal of the Audio Engineering Society · Volume 67 · Issue 6 · pp. 382–399 · June 2019
Abstract
In multichannel sound reproduction, recreating virtual sources or sound images in different directions can be realized with the principle of summing localization of multiple loudspeakers or real sound sources. On the basis of Wallach’s hypothesis that the variations in the interaural time difference caused by head turning provide dynamic cues for front-back and vertical localization, the present study develops a framework for analyzing the vertical summing localization of multichannel sound reproduction with amplitude panning. The previously derived localization equations, which were based on the simplified shadow-less head model, are reviewed and psychoacoustics explanations are provided. A HRTF-based method for analyzing the vertical summing localization more strictly is described. Based on the proposed framework and method, vertical summing localizations for pair-wise amplitude panning in the median plane and Ambisonics are analyzed. The results confirm previous observations that for some appropriate loudspeaker configurations, pair-wise amplitude panning is able to recreate a virtual source between two loudspeakers in the median plane.
