The Personal Sound Zone Occlusion Problem (Multizone Soundfield Reproduction) (Spatial Audio)
This animation is an example of a reproduction of multizone spatial audio using loudspeakers to create personal sound zones. The circular zone on the left shows a bright zone with a desired 2kHz planewave at an angle of 0°. The circular zone on the right shows the quiet zone which is moved behind the bright zone.
The occlusion problem becomes present as the desired planewave in the bright zone is directed towards the quite zone as it passes behind. The occlusion problem is at its worst when the desired planewave in the bright zone is directed completely towards the quite zone. A drop in spatial reproduction accuracy is present when the occlusion problem occurs.
The large black circle is the reproduction area to be controlled. The black and white circles on the left represent 32 loudspeakers (point sources) starting at 180° and continuing to 264°.
The size in space of this spatial audio system can be seen from the measurements on the axes.
The desired soundfield was synthesised using the technique described in the paper "Multizone Soundfield Reproduction using Orthogonal Basis Expansion" by Wenyu Jin, W. Bastiaan Kleijn and David Virette.
The reproduction was synthesised using the technique described in the paper "Theory and Design of Soundfield Reproduction using Continuous Loudspeaker Concept" by Yan Jennifer WU and Thushara D. Abhayapala