Measurements and reproduction of spatial sound characteristics of auditoria

Abstract

The definition and measurement of sound spatialisation have been strongly enhanced in last years, as nowadays spatial properties of sound propagation are considered quite important during design of auditoria. Besides, a proper description of spatiality is requested during virtual audio reproduction of sound quality in dedicated listening rooms for 3D reproduction purposes. Normally, only binaural measurements are performed, by means of a dummy head, even though international standards like ISO 3382 require measuring some spatial parameters (i.e. LE, LF, IACC). 3D impulse responses are rarely measured and utilised for sound reproduction. In this paper, an innovative procedure of measuring spatial sound characteristics is presented. The application of this new technique in virtual 3D sound reconstruction is emphasized. Furthermore, the methodology is compared with other techniques of 3D sound reproduction. Finally, the results of a wide campaign of measurements of spatial parameters among different auditoria all over the world, and conducted with the novel methodology, are compared with the results of standard binaural and 3D measurements. The possibility to enhance the spatial reproduction of sound quality in real spaces and the comprehensibility of spatial parameters is then considered and presented in different cases.