In at least one embodiment, an apparatus for providing a virtual sound effect in a listening environment is provided. The apparatus includes at least one controller and an audio playback device. The audio playback device includes the at least one controller that is programmed to receive an audio input signal from an audio input source and to apply a head related transfer function (HRTF) to the audio input signal. The at least one controller is further programmed to apply crosstalk cancellation to the audio input signal and to generate an audio output signal after applying the HRTF and the crosstalk cancellation to the audio input signal for playback by at least one loudspeaker that is invisible to a listener in the listening environment.

Embodiments relate to binaural spatialization of more than two sound sources on two audio channels of an audio system. Sound signals each emitted from a corresponding sound source are collected, and a respective virtual position within an angular range of a sound scene is assigned to each sound source. Multi-source audio signals are generated by panning each sound signal according to the respective virtual position. A first multi-source audio signal is spatialized to a first direction to generate a first left signal and a first right signal. A second multi-source audio signal is spatialized to a second direction to generate a second left signal and a second right signal. A binaural signal is generated using the first left signal, the second left signal, the first right signal, and the second right signal. The binaural signal is such that each sound source appears to originate from its respective virtual position.

The present disclosure provides methods, devices and computer program products for encoding and decoding of a vector of parameters in an audio coding system. The disclosure further relates to a method and apparatus for reconstructing an audio object in an audio decoding system. According to the disclosure, a modulo differential approach for coding and encoding a vector of a non-periodic quantity may improve the coding efficiency and provide encoders and decoders with less memory requirements. Moreover, an efficient method for encoding and decoding a sparse matrix is provided.

In multichannel audio coding, an improved coding efficiency is achieved by the following measure: the noise filling of zero-quantized scale factor bands is performed using noise filling sources other than artificially generated noise or spectral replica. In particular, the coding efficiency in multichannel audio coding may be rendered more efficient by performing the noise filling based on noise generated using spectral lines from a previous frame of, or a different channel of the current frame of, the multichannel audio signal.

An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory, the memory comprising machine-readable instructions, that when executed cause the apparatus to: store in a non-volatile memory multiple sets of predetermined spatial audio processing parameters for differently moving sound sources; provide in a man machine interface an option for a user to select one of the stored multiple sets of predetermined spatial audio processing parameters for differently moving sound sources; and in response to the user selecting one of the stored multiple sets of predetermined spatial audio processing parameters for differently moving sound sources, the apparatus is further caused to use the selected one of the stored multiple sets of predetermined spatial audio processing parameters to spatially process audio from one or more sound sources.

An encoding method for a multi-channel audio signal, an encoding apparatus for performing the encoding method, and a decoding method for a multi-channel audio signal and a decoding apparatus for performing the decoding method are disclosed. A method and apparatus of bypassing an MPEG Surround (MPS) standard operation and using an arbitrary tree when a number of audio signals of N channels exceeds a channel number defined in an MPS standard, is disclosed.

The present technology relates to an acoustic signal processing apparatus, an acoustic signal processing method, and a program for expanding a range of listening positions in which an effect of a transaural reproduction system can be obtained. First and second output signals for localizing a sound image in front of or behind and on the left of a first position located on the left of a listening position are output from first and second speakers, respectively. Third and fourth output signals for localizing a sound image in front of or behind and on the right of a second position located on the right of the listening position are output from third and fourth speakers, respectively. The first speaker is disposed in a first direction in front of or behind the listening position and on the left of the listening position. The second speaker is disposed in the first direction and on the right of the listening position. The third speaker is disposed in the first direction and on the left of the listening position and on the right of the first speaker. The fourth speaker is disposed in the first direction of the listening position and on the right of the second speaker. The present technology can be applied, for example, to an acoustic processing system.

Embodiments provide a digital processor including an ambient portion extractor and a spatial effect processing stage. The ambient portion extractor is configured to extract an ambient portion from a multi-channel signal. The spatial effect processing stage is configured to generate a spatial effect signal based on the ambient portion of the multi-channel signal. The digital processor is configured to combine the multi-channel signal or a processed version thereof with the spatial effect signal.

Audio signal processing apparatuses and methods are provided, such as an audio signal downmixing apparatus for processing an input audio signal into an output audio signal, wherein the input audio signal comprises a plurality of input channels recorded at a plurality of spatial positions and the output audio signal comprises a plurality of primary output channels. The audio signal downmixing apparatus comprises a downmix matrix determiner configured to determine for each frequency bin j of a plurality of frequency bins a downmix matrix D.sub.U with j being an integer in the range from 1 to N, and a processor configured to process the input audio signal using the downmix matrix D.sub.U into the output audio signal.

An audio metadata providing apparatus and method and a multichannel audio data playback apparatus and method to support a dynamic format conversion are provided. Dynamic format conversion information may include information about a plurality of format conversion schemes that are used to convert a first format set by an author of multichannel audio data into a second format that is based on a playback environment of the multichannel audio data and that are each set for corresponding playback periods of the multichannel audio data. The audio metadata providing apparatus may provide audio metadata including the dynamic format conversion information. The multichannel audio data playback apparatus may identify the dynamic format conversion information from the audio metadata, may convert the first format of the multichannel audio data into the second format based on the identified dynamic format conversion information, and may play back the multichannel audio data in the second format.