Development of Binaural Headphone Processor for 22.2 Multichannel Sound

A 22.2 multichannel sound system for an ultra-high definition TV is being developed. The system consists of three layers of loudspeakers and provides three-dimensional spatial sound. At program productions outside the studio, especially those performed in outdoor broadcasting vans, it is difficult to place loudspeakers for all channels. Consequently a feasible monitoring system for the 22.2 multichannel sound is required. — To meet this requirement, a headphone processor for monitoring multichannel sound productions was developed. It can be used with ordinary headphones and reconstruct the three-dimensional spatial sound by processing the audio signal in each channel of 22.2 multichannel sound with the help of head-related impulse responses (HRIRs). A key feature of the processor is its adjustability to individual variations in HRIRs. Sound engineers can modify measured their own HRIRs to fit their sensation of hearing. Together with this “binauralization,” it also has the function of generating reflections and reverberation to simulate artificial environments.

Published

2011-10

Content type

Original Research

Keywords

22.2 multichannel sound, HRIR, binaural processing, individual variation, reverberation

DOI

10.5594/M001077

ISBN

978-1-61482-940-9