Large-scale sound field rendering with graphics processing unit cluster for three-dimensional audio with loudspeaker array

Abstract

The sound field rendering is a technique to simulate the sound field from the three-dimensional numerical models constructed in the computer, and it is the same concept as the graphics rendering in the computer graphics. In this paper, a graphics processing unit (GPU) cluster system is applied to the sound field rendering for a large room simulation. The compact explicit finite difference time domain (CE-FDTD) method is implemented on the GPU cluster system. The CE-FDTD method is a kind of the finite difference method in which the wave equation is directly discretized based on the central differences. The developed GPU cluster system consists of eight PC nodes in which four GPUs are mounted respectively. The rendering results are reproduced by a speaker array system in which 157 speakers surround a small room. The sound field renderings are performed for a large room with a volume capacity of about 5000 cubic meters, in which the impulse responses of one-second length with a sampling rate of 40 kHz are calculated at 157 points corresponding to the loudspeaker positions. The impulse responses are then convoluted with dry music sources. The sound field rendering with the 157ch loudspeaker array system provides the realistic sound field reproduction with natural reverberation.