2020 Volume 41 Issue 1 Pages 282-287
Three-dimensional (3D) audio reproduction systems incorporated into a set of headphones are growing in popularity alongside the evolution of virtual reality (VR)/augmented reality (AR) technology. In this paper, some applications of binaural 3D audio systems will be presented. Game audio is one of the application fields for binaural 3D audio systems. We have developed a binaural 3D audio system for game development. When applying the binaural 3D audio system to games, it is necessary to solve the problem of calculation load. Therefore, we developed a hybrid system of virtual loudspeakers and object sound sources. In addition, the problem of timbre change was highlighted. Meanwhile, 360° video is another potential application field for 3D audio. In conventional binaural systems, it is difficult to express ambient sound sources such as the sound of rustling leaves. Our system has made it possible to reproduce ambient sound sources by combining higher-order ambisonics (HoA) and head-related transfer functions (HRTFs).