How Different Vertical Interchannel Cross-Correlation Affects the Widening of the Listening Area

Kamekawa T, Marui A. How Different Vertical Interchannel Cross-Correlation Affects the Widening of the Listening Area. J Audio Eng Soc. 2026;74(9):612-623. doi:10.17743/jaes.2026.0281

@article{Kamekawa2026_23438,
  author = {Kamekawa, Toru and Marui, Atsushi},
  title = {{How Different Vertical Interchannel Cross-Correlation Affects the Widening of the Listening Area}},
  journal = {Journal of the Audio Engineering Society},
  volume = {74},
  number = {9},
  pages = {612--623},
  year = {2026},
  month = sep,
  publisher = {Audio Engineering Society},
  doi = {10.17743/jaes.2026.0281},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.17743/jaes.2026.0281}
}

TY  - JOUR
TI  - How Different Vertical Interchannel Cross-Correlation Affects the Widening of the Listening Area
AU  - Kamekawa, Toru
AU  - Marui, Atsushi
T2  - Journal of the Audio Engineering Society
J2  - J. Audio Eng. Soc.
VL  - 74
IS  - 9
SP  - 612
EP  - 623
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/16
DO  - 10.17743/jaes.2026.0281
UR  - https://doi.org/10.17743/jaes.2026.0281
PB  - Audio Engineering Society
LA  - en
AB  - In auditory spatial perception, the degree of correlation between signals reaching the ears is thought to contribute to the sense of horizontal spaciousness. On the other hand, vertical spatial impressions depend on the signal’s frequency response rather than on the correlation between the two ears. A previous experiment investigated 3D audio reproduction using pink noise with different interchannel cross-correlation (ICC) values between the top and middle layers of loudspeaker signals (vertical ICC). It found that as vertical correlation decreases, the listening area expands without changing the impression from the central listening position (i.e., sweet spot). This paper investigates in more detail whether the result that lower values of vertical ICC result in a wider sweet spot also applies to real recording situations. The results of an experiment using impulse responses obtained by setting up microphones in an actual concert hall suggest that increasing decorrelation between middle-layer and height-layer microphone signals, achieved by changing the polar pattern and height of the microphones, resulted in lower vertical ICC values, thus widening the sweet spot area.
ER  -