Generation of individual sound zones within a listening room

Abstract

A sound reproduction system that capable of providing at least two separate sound zones in one coherent listening room is disclosed. In accordance with one aspect of the present invention the system comprises an audio source which has at least two output channels and provides an audio source signal for each output channel. Each audio channel is associated with one sound zone. The system further comprises at least two planar loudspeakers which have a directional characteristics, wherein each loudspeaker is associated with one audio channel and one sound zone. Each loudspeaker is supplied with a respective loudspeaker signal and radiates a corresponding acoustic signal. Moreover, the system comprises a multi-channel digital filter that receives the audio source signals and provides the loudspeaker signals. The digital filter has a transfer characteristic that is characterized by a transfer matrix. The acoustic signals radiated by the planar loudspeakers superpose to a resulting acoustic signal in each sound zone, wherein the transfer matrix is designed such that, in each sound zone, the resulting acoustic signal substantially corresponds to the audio source signal associated with the same sound zone, and the contribution of audio source signals associated with a different sound zone to the resulting sound signal is minimized.

Description

technical field [0001] The present invention generally relates to sound reproduction in listening rooms, where different sound zones are provided to enable individual listening experiences for different listeners in different sound zones. Background technique [0002] Recently more and more attention has been paid to advanced sound reproduction systems capable of providing different sounds in different spatial parts of a listening room. In this context, the concept of (individual) vocal regions has emerged. That is, two different sound zones are provided in one (coherent) listening room, where the sound to be reproduced in each sound zone (and presented to listeners present in the respective zone) may be different. In this respect, different sounds are to be understood as different audio contents of different sound zones (eg two different radio programs) or different sound settings (treble, bass, etc.). It should be noted that the sound signal to be reproduced in a particu...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

However, a practical implementation is usually not feasible due to the complexity of the filter design of the (multidimensional) inverse filter

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