Spatial Audio Rendering Metadata for Reverberation Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current spatial audio rendering technologies lack precise control over reverberation and directivity in sound programs, leading to suboptimal listener experiences, as they fail to accurately replicate the spatial characteristics of audio sources in complex environments.
Innovation Solution
The method involves encoding metadata that instructs the decoding side to apply scene reverberation and directivity based on specific indices and parameters, allowing for per-object or per-channel control of reverberation and radiation patterns, using impulse responses, reverberation parameters, and radiation patterns stored in a lookup table, to accurately simulate the spatial audio scene.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If spatial audio rendering applies reverberation and directivity control, then spatial resolution and realism are improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the audio rendering process into distinct controllable elements: audio objects with individual reverberation parameters, channel-based processing, and HOA representation. Each segment can be independently controlled through metadata, allowing precise spatial resolution while managing complexity through modular architecture.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts rendering parameters based on metadata instructions received during playback. The decoding side process can switch between different reverberation models, directivity patterns, and processing modes in real-time, enabling high spatial resolution when needed while simplifying processing when metadata indicates simpler scenarios.
2Manufacturing precision
If per-object reverberation control is implemented, then spatial accuracy is improved, but processing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies different reverberation characteristics to different audio objects based on their spatial properties and scene requirements. Each audio object can have customized reverberation parameters (impulse responses, reverberation time, early reflections) tailored to its specific position and environmental context, achieving high spatial accuracy without uniformly complex processing across all audio elements.
Solution Approach 2:
Reverberation parameters and impulse responses are prepared and stored in advance during content creation. The metadata includes pre-configured reverberation models that can be directly applied during playback without real-time computation, reducing processing complexity while maintaining spatial accuracy.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple reverberation models are provided, then adaptability is improved, but metadata size increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts only the essential reverberation parameters needed for each audio object rather than transmitting complete reverberation models. Metadata includes selective parameters such as reverberation time, early reflection characteristics, and impulse response indices, reducing information overhead while maintaining adaptability across different acoustic environments.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses parameter-based representation of reverberation characteristics rather than full model transmission. By encoding reverberation as adjustable parameters (RT60, early reflection level, late reverb level) that can be modified during playback, the system achieves versatility with minimal metadata size.
Data Source
AI summary
The various aspects of the disclosure here enable a content creation side to control how discrete audio objects that make up a sound program are rendered by a decoding side to achieve greater realism, while enabling the decoder side to also control the rendering process to consider the positions and orientations of the objects as virtual sound sources relative to the listener. The same sound program can thus be optimally rendered by a variety of decoder side formats, such as binaural on headphone, cross-talked cancelled binaural on a stereo pair of speakers embedded in a device, or multichannel on an immersive loudspeaker layout, e.g., planar such as 5.1 and 7.1 surround sound layouts, 3D such as 7.1.4 or 22.2, etc. Other aspects are also described and claimed.