Patent · US Expired

Stereo headphone sound source localization system

US5371799A · kind A · utility

175Cited by
2References
8Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJun 1, 1993
Grant dateDec 6, 1994
Priority date
Expiry dateJun 1, 2013

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04S2420/01
  • WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A system for processing an audio signal for playback over headphones in which the apparent sound source is located outside of the head of the listener processes the input signal as if it were made up of a direct wave portion, an early reflections portion, and a reverberations portion. The direct wave portion of the signal is processed in filters whose filter coefficients are chosen based upon the desired azimuth of the virtual sound source location. The early reflection portion is passed through a bank of filters connected in parallel whose coefficients are chosen based on each reflection azimuth. The outputs of these filters are passed through scalars to adjust the amplitude to simulate a desired range of the virtual sound source. The reverberation portion is processed without any sound source location information, using a random number generator, for example, and the output is attenuated in an exponential attenuator to be faded out. The outputs of the scalars and attenuators are then all summed to produce left and right headphone signals for playback over the respective headphone transducers.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.