Wave field synthesis (WFS) and higher-order Ambisonics (HOA) are two high-resolution spatial sound reproduction techniques aiming at overcoming some of the limitations of stereophonic reproduction techniques. In the past, the theoretical foundations of WFS and HOA have been formulated in a quite different fashion. Although, some work has been published that aims at comparing both approaches their similarities and differences are not well documented. This paper formulates the theory of both approaches in a common framework, highlights the different assumptions made to derive the driving functions and the resulting physical properties of the reproduced wave field. Special attention will be drawn to the consequences of spatial sampling since both approaches differ significantly here.

Authors: Spors, Sascha; Ahrens, Jens
Affiliation: Deutsche Telekom Laboratories, Technische Universität Berlin
AES Convention: 125 (October 2008) Paper Number: 7556
Publication Date: October 1, 2008 Import into BibTeX
Subject: Multichannel Sound Reproduction
Permalink: https://www.aes.org/e-lib/browse.cfm?elib=14708

Click to purchase paper as a non-member or login as an AES member. If your company or school subscribes to the E-Library then switch to the institutional version. If you are not an AES member and would like to subscribe to the E-Library then Join the AES!

This paper costs $33 for non-members and is free for AES members and E-Library subscribers.

Learn more about the AES E-Library

E-Library Location: (CD 125Papers)   /125/7556.pdf

Start a discussion about this paper!