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Interaction of Source and Reverberance Spatial Imagery in Multichannel Loudspeaker Audio

Sound imagery is discussed in many contexts in subjective loudspeaker audio evaluation. In this paper we define imagery in terms of the spatial properties of an auditory object and present a theoretical framework for the study of images in audio. A general categorization of images into either source or reverberance images has been suggested in previous works; here we discuss perceptual organization principles and physical factors which affect this distinction. The degree to which existing theories for controlling a source image can be applied to controlling a reverberance image was investigated with a simple experiment. Using a conventionally arranged 3/2 loudspeaker system and a graphical mapping system developed in previous work, we investigated the spatial imagery associated with independent pair-wise panning of a single dry source audio channel and a number of artificial reverberation channels. From these results, we suggest a new sound processing system for use with conventional 3/2 surround sound loudspeaker audio wherein source and reverberant sound image radiation are separately controlled, enabling more consistent homogeneity of reverberant sound images.

Authors: Usher, John; Woszczyk, Wieslaw
Affiliation: McGill University
AES Convention:118 (May 2005) Paper Number:6370 Import into BibTeX
Subject:Multichannel Sound (5.1 Multichannel, general)

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