Evaluation of sound field synthesis techniques with a binaural auditory model

Wave field synthesis and Ambisonics strive to reconstruct a sound field within a listening area using the interference of loudspeaker signals. Due to the spatial sampling, an error-free reconstruction is not achieved within the entire listening area and consequently, the perceived quality of the reproduction may be impaired. Specifically, sound events may be localized incorrectly and the individual loudspeaker signals may result in perceived coloration. Here, a binaural auditory model was employed to predict the localization error in several off-center-listening positions and to visualize coloration artifacts. The model outputs provided good match for perceptual data from previously conducted listening tests, verifying the applicability of the model to evaluate the reconstructed sound fields.