Embodiments are described for an adaptive audio system that processes audio data comprising a number of independent monophonic audio streams. One or more of the streams has associated with it metadata that specifies whether the stream is a channel-based or object-based stream. Channel-based streams have rendering information encoded by means of channel name; and the object-based streams have location information encoded through location expressions encoded in the associated metadata. A codec packages the independent audio streams into a single serial bitstream that contains all of the audio data. This configuration allows for the sound to be rendered according to an allocentric frame of reference, in which the rendering location of a sound is based on the characteristics of the playback environment (e.g., room size, shape, etc.) to correspond to the mixer's intent. The object position metadata contains the appropriate allocentric frame of reference information required to play the sound correctly using the available speaker positions in a room that is set up to play the adaptive audio content.

Embodiments of the present invention are directed to a system and method for demonstrating spatial performance of a demonstration speaker model to consumers in order to evaluate different speakers. The system and method comprise a microphone array for recording the output of the demonstration speaker model. The system and method comprise acoustic input samples for processing to an acoustic output and a processor for determining characteristics of each microphone recording, and processing an acoustic input sample and characteristics of each microphone recording corresponding to a selected demonstration speaker model. The system and method further comprise a reference speaker model for outputting an acoustic signal based on the result of the processing. The processing compensates for the performance characteristic of the reference speaker and the performance characteristic of the selected demonstration speaker so as to mimic the spatial characteristics of the demonstration speaker while avoiding bias from the reference speaker.

Embodiments of the present invention are directed to a system and method for demonstrating spatial performance of a demonstration speaker model to consumers in order to evaluate different speakers. The system and method comprise a microphone array for recording the output of the demonstration speaker model. The system and method comprise acoustic input samples for processing to an acoustic output and a processor for determining characteristics of each microphone recording, and processing an acoustic input sample and characteristics of each microphone recording corresponding to a selected demonstration speaker model. The system and method further comprise a reference speaker model for outputting an acoustic signal based on the result of the processing. The processing compensates for the performance characteristic of the reference speaker and the performance characteristic of the selected demonstration speaker so as to mimic the spatial characteristics of the demonstration speaker while avoiding bias from the reference speaker.

Virtual sound room rendering is most realistic when the listener has themselves been the subject of the binaural room impulse response measurements, and most pleasing when the sound room involved has a high acoustic fidelity. Where the listener has no access to good sound rooms non-personalised high fidelity sound rooms are modified using information from a listener's personalised binaural impulse response data to improve the realism of such rooms. Where sound rooms are available, information from higher fidelity non-personalised sound rooms are used to improve the sound quality of the listener's personalised room data. Alternatively either personalised or non-personalised rooms can be improved through modification of their reverberation characteristics according to the listener's taste.

An audio processing method includes: M first audio signals are obtained by processing a to-be-processed audio signal by M first virtual speakers; N second audio signals are obtained by processing the to-be-processed audio signal by N second virtual speakers; M first head-related transfer functions (HRTFs) centered at a left ear position and N second HRTFs centered at a right ear position are obtained; a first target audio signal is obtained based on the M first audio signals and the M first HRTFs; and a second target audio signal is obtained based on the N second audio signals and the N second HRTFs.

An apparatus including circuitry configured for: defining at least one parameter field associated with an input multi-channel audio signals, the at least one parameter field configured to describe at least one characteristic of the multi-channel audio signals; determining at least one spatial audio parameter associated with the multi-channel audio signals; and controlling a rendering of the multi-channel audio signals by processing the input multichannel audio signals using at least the at least one characteristic of the multi-channel audio signals and the at least one spatial audio parameter.

A method for processing an audio signal and an electronic device, relate to the field of audio and video technology. The method includes: detecting beat information of the audio signal; and obtaining virtual surround sound for the audio signal by performing a convolution operation on a head-related transfer function and the audio signal based on the beat information of the audio signal.

A system and method that incorporates the subject disclosure may include, for example, receiving a multichannel audio stream; forming a front channel audio stream of the multichannel audio stream, including combining a first subset of audio channels of the multichannel audio stream to form the front channel audio stream; forming a surround channel audio stream of the multichannel audio stream including combining a second subset of audio channels of the multichannel audio stream to form the surround channel audio stream; providing the front channel audio stream to a primary set of speakers positioned in front of a listener and providing the surround channel audio stream to a supplemental speaker positioned behind the listener; and synchronizing the front channel audio stream and the surround channel audio stream. Additional embodiments are disclosed.

Methods and systems are provided for audio devices with enhanced directional operations. In a system that includes one or more audio output components, positioning information associated with at least a part of a user's body may be determined, the positioning information including at least orientation related information. The one or more audio output components may be controlled based on the determined positioning information, with the determined positioning information corresponding to a positional nature of the user within a three-dimensional space around the user, and where the controlling includes providing a three-dimensional audio environment according to the user.

A device configured to decode a bitstream, where the device includes a memory configured to store a temporally encoded representation of spatial audio signals. The device is also configured to receive the bitstream that includes an indication of a spatial transformation, and includes a temporal decoding unit, coupled to the memory, configured to decode one or more spatial audio signals represented in a spatial domain, where the one or more spatial audio signals are associated with different angles in the spatial domain. In addition, the device includes an inverse spatial transformation unit, coupled to the temporal decoding unit, is configured to convert the one or more spatial audio signals represented in the spatial domain into at least three ambisonic coefficients that, in part, represent a soundfield in an ambisonics domain, and perform a spatial transformation of the soundfield based on the indication of the spatial transformation received in the bitstream.