Subjective evaluation of source distance in dynamic 2.5D local sound field synthesis

Abstract

Many loudspeakers are required to reproduce the immersive and physically-accurate sound field up to high frequency. Especially, at high frequency, a limited number of loudspeakers degrade the reproduction accuracy because of spatial Nyquist frequency. When use the same number of loudspeakers, reducing the extent of the reproduction region can improve the reproduction accuracy. However, by narrowing the reproduction region, the extent of movement for the listener is reduced. In our previous studies, we proposed the dynamic reproduction system of local sound field by moving the reproduction region to the listener's current position. Using a limited number of loudspeakers, the proposed system achieved the sound reproduction with high accuracy allowing the freedom of listener movement. In this study, we conduct the subjective evaluation of the dynamic 2.5D local sound field synthesis for sound source distance. Especially, we investigate the distance perception by allowing listeners to move around freely.