Reproducing the Acoustic Velocity Vectors in a Circular Listening Area

Acoustic velocity vectors are important for human's localization of sound at low frequencies. This paper proposes a sound field reproduction algorithm, which matches the acoustic velocity vectors in a circular listening area. In previous work, acoustic velocity vectors are matched either at sweet spots or on the boundary of the listening area. Sweet spots restrict listener's movement, whereas measuring the acoustic velocity vectors on the boundary requires complicated measurement setup. This paper proposes the cylindrical harmonic coefficients of the acoustic velocity vectors in a circular area (CHV coefficients), which are calculated from the cylindrical harmonic coefficients of the global pressure (global CHP coefficients) by using the sound field translation formula. The global CHP coefficients can be measured by a circular microphone array, which can be bought off-the-shelf. By matching the CHV coefficients, the acoustic velocity vectors are reproduced throughout the listening area. Hence, listener's movements are allowed. Simulations show that at low frequency, where the acoustic velocity vectors are the dominant factor for localization, the proposed reproduction method based on the CHV coefficients results in higher accuracy in reproduced acoustic velocity vectors when compared with traditional method based on the global CHP coefficients.