Multichannel audio rendering using amplitude panning [DSP Applications]

Spatial audio is a field that investigates techniques to reproduce spatial attributes of sound (e.g., direction, distance, width of sound sources, and room envelopment) to the listener. Such attributes cannot be reproduced accurately with one loudspeaker, therefore two-channel stereophony was introduced, later extended to different surround formats having five to eight loudspeakers. An even more accurate reproduction of spatial attributes can be achieved with loudspeaker setups often found in theaters and in some public venues, which contain a large number of loudspeakers around listeners, possibly also above and/or below them.