Comparative performance evaluation of near 3D sound field reproduction system with directional loudspeakers and wave field synthesis

Near 3D sound field display systems are important toward realizing ultra-realistic communications systems such as 3D television. We have proposed the near 3D sound field reproduction systems using directional loudspeakers and wave field synthesis and developed the real system by constructing the surrounding microphone array and the radiated loudspeaker array. In this paper, to evaluate the performance of sound image localization in the developed system, sound image positions were estimated via computer simulation. The results indicated that listeners can accurately localize a sound image in any listening position around the radiated loudspeaker array if the radiation directivity of the loudspeaker units is sharpened, and that listeners can accurately localize a sound image close to the listening position if they listen to a sound in a particular listening position, even if the radiation directivity of the loudspeaker units is not sharpened. Results of estimation of a sound image position by acoustical measurement similarly showed that listeners can accurately localize a sound image close to the listening position if they listen to a sound in a particular listening position.