Modified second-order nonlinear infinite impulse response (IIR) filter for equalizing frequency response and compensating nonlinear distortions of electrodynamic loudspeaker

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In this paper, we propose a modified second-order nonlinear infinite impulse response (IIR) filter for equalizing the frequency response and compensating nonlinear distortions of an electrodynamic loudspeaker. A problem of electrodynamic loudspeakers is the generation of nonlinear distortions, which degrade the sound quality. One of the approaches to reducing nonlinear distortions is to use a second-order nonlinear IIR filter. This filter is based on an equivalent circuit model of an electrodynamic loudspeaker and its coefficients are determined by physical parameters. However, it is difficult to compensate nonlinear distortions when a loudspeaker has a high Q factor at the lowest resonance frequency, at which the displacement of the diaphragm and nonlinear distortions become large. The Q factor determines the linear frequency response of the electrodynamic loudspeaker. Although it is necessary to compensate the Q factor of the loudspeaker, a nonlinear IIR filter cannot compensate the Q factor because it does not have a linear filtering feature. In this paper, we propose a modified second-order nonlinear IIR filter that can not only compensate the nonlinear distortions caused by the nonlinearities of the force factor and stiffness but also equalize the frequency response by employing the linear characteristics of the loudspeaker with the desired Q factor. Experimental results show that the proposed filter can compensate the linear and nonlinear distortions more effectively than a conventional filter.