Loudspeaker Audio Tuning for Off-Axis Listener Position
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional loudspeakers exhibit acoustic imaging issues due to listener location relative to the speakers, causing deviations in sound pressure levels and timing, which affect the perceived audio response, especially when the listener is off-axis.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that adjusts loudspeaker performance based on listener location by determining time delay, audio level, and interaural crosstalk cancellation parameters, using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) or microphone arrays to track listener position and apply compensatory signal processing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the listener moves away from the optimal location (sweet spot) off-axis, then the listener can be positioned more proximately to one loudspeaker, but this causes higher sound pressure levels from the proximate speaker and timing deviations that make the acoustic image gravitate towards the proximate speaker
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts audio parameters (time delay, audio level, interaural crosstalk cancellation) based on the listener's real-time location. The time delay parameter compensates for distance differences between listeners and speakers, while audio level adjustments equalize sound pressure levels. These dynamic adjustments maintain accurate acoustic imaging regardless of whether the listener is at the optimal sweet spot or positioned off-axis near one speaker.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the listener moves to locations progressively further off-axis with respect to each loudspeaker's preferred main radiation axis, then the listener's perceived acoustic response increasingly deviates from the preferred on-axis response, but conventional loudspeakers cannot compensate for this deviation
Solution Approach 1:
The system changes multiple audio parameters simultaneously based on the listener's off-axis position: time delay parameter adjustment compensates for distance, audio level parameter adjustment equalizes sound pressure levels across speakers, and interaural crosstalk cancellation parameters maintain spatial accuracy. These coordinated parameter changes ensure that the acoustic response remains consistent and reliable even when the listener is positioned far off-axis from the speakers' preferred radiation axes.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for adjusting loudspeaker performance is based on a location of a listener of an audio system rendering a plurality of audio channels of an audio program within a listening environment. Data is received indicative of a location of the listener in the listening environment with respect to a first loudspeaker receiving a first audio channel and a second loudspeaker receiving a second audio channel. A time delay parameter value is determined for the first audio channel based on the listener location with respect to the first loudspeaker and a second loudspeaker. An audio level parameter value is adjusted for the first audio channel and/or the second audio channel based on the listener location.