Signal Processing Device for Immersive Audio Reproduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current technologies for immersive reality struggle to provide a strong sense of presence and immersion by only reproducing sounds of events outside a closed surface, lacking the ability to simulate events occurring inside the closed surface.
Innovation Solution
A signal processing device and method that recreates the sound field by allowing users to perceive sounds as if they are echoing within a target environment, enhancing auditory perception and recognition of space through self-produced sounds, and incorporating transfer functions to simulate environmental sounds, including echoes, to heighten the sense of presence and immersion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If only sounds of events outside a closed surface are reproduced, then the existing immersive reality technology can provide basic spatial perception, but the sense of presence and immersion is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the sound field into two distinct segments: sounds from outside the closed surface (reproduced through existing techniques) and sounds from inside the closed surface (reproduced through the new technique). This segmentation allows the system to handle different sound sources with appropriate methods, thereby improving overall immersion while maintaining compatibility with existing technologies.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of only reproducing external sounds as conventional technologies do, the patent inverts the approach by also capturing and reproducing sounds generated inside the closed surface. This inversion enables users to hear their own voices and sounds from objects within the immersive environment, significantly enhancing the sense of presence and making the virtual space feel more realistic.
2Measurement precision
If transfer functions are used to simulate environmental sounds including echoes, then the acoustic perception of space is enhanced, but the system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent pre-calculates and stores transfer functions that represent the acoustic characteristics of the target environment (including echoes, reverberation, and spatial properties) before the actual sound reproduction occurs. These pre-computed transfer functions are then applied to captured sounds through convolution operations, which simplifies real-time processing while maintaining high acoustic accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces transfer functions as an intermediary element that mediates between the captured sounds and the final reproduced output. These transfer functions act as acoustic filters that impart the characteristics of the target environment to the sounds, enabling realistic spatial perception without requiring complex real-time acoustic simulations.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution significantly enhances the sense of presence and immersion by allowing users to acoustically perceive the impression of a space through self-produced sounds and simulated environmental sounds, effectively recreating the target environment's audio experience.
Implementation Method 1
a sound field in which a sound emitted by a user who is positioned in a reproduction environment is sensed as if it were echoing in a place serving as a measurement environment
Implementation Method 2
an impulse response when a sound radiated from the sound source is emitted from one of the sound source element regions, passes through the sound field, enters one of the sound receiving element regions, and then reaches the sound receiving point is obtained
Data Source
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AI summary
Provided is a signal processing device including an input unit inputting a sound collection signal of a sound of a user collected by user-surrounding microphones with inward directivity in a reproduction environment, an acoustic-signal processing unit obtaining a reproduction signal of a sound field in a measurement environment by performing a process on the sound collection signal based on a transfer function measured based on a result of sequential emission of predetermined sounds from speakers at positions set on a first closed surface with outward directivity in the measurement environment and collection of the sounds with microphones at positionst on a second closed surface with outward directivity in the measurement environment and indicates how the sounds are transferred to the positions on the second closed surface, and a sound-emission control unit causing user-surrounding speakers to emit sound based on the reproduction signal with inward directivity in the reproduction environment.