Download Sound spatialization based on fast beam tracing in the dual space This paper addresses the problem of geometry-based sound reverberation for applications of virtual acoustics. In particular, we propose a novel method that allows us to significantly speed-up the construction of the beam tree in beam tracing applications, by avoiding space subdivision. This allows us to dynamically recompute the beam tree as the sound source moves. In order to speedup the construction of the beam tree, we determine what portion of which reflectors the beam “illuminates” by performing visibility checks in the “dual” of the geometric space.
Download Software for the simulation, performance, analysis and real-time implementation of wave field synthesis systems for 3D-audio Wave Field Synthesis is a method for 3D sound reproduction, based on the precise construction of the desired wave field by using an array of loudspeakers. The main purpose of this work is to present a set of software tools that brings to the audio community a feasible an easy way to start working with wave field synthesis systems. First in the paper, an introduction to different 3D sound techniques and an overview of WFS theory and foundations are given. Next, a series of software tools specially developed to simulate, analyze and implement WFS systems are presented. The first software module helps the user in the design of the array of loudspeakers to be employed in the reproduction by computing the equations for each speaker signal excitation. Another tool simulates the wave field generated by the arrays and analyses both performance and quality of the acoustic field. Finally a user friendly tool for realtime convolution capable of producing the excitation signals for the array of loudspeakers is presented. Also, different experiments that have been carried out with this software in order to evaluate the precision and behaviour of different WFS configurations are presented and interpreted.
Download On the use of spatial cues to improve binaural source separation Motivated by the human hearing sense we devise a computational model suitable for the localization of many sources in stereo signals, and apply this to the separation of sound sources. The method employs spatial cues in order to resolve high-frequency phase ambiguities. More specifically we use relationships between the short time Fourier transforms (STFT) of the two signals in order to estimate the two most important spatial cues, namely time differences (TD) and level differences (LD) between the sensors. By using models of both free field wave propagation and head related transfer functions (HRTF), these cues are combined to form estimates of spatial parameters such as the directions of arrival (DOA). The theory is validated with the help of the experimental results presented in the paper.
Download Room simulation for binaural sound reproduction using measured spatiotemporal impulse responses In binaural sound reproduction systems the incorporation of room simulation is important to improve sound source localisation capabilities. Thus, the localisation error can be decreased, while equivalently an enhanced externality (out of head localisation) is achieved. Previously proposed works are based on simple geometrical approaches for room simulation. In this paper an alternative method using measured room impulse responses (RIRs) is presented. Therefore, it is possible to obtain a convincing acoustical image of an existing room. The RIRs are measured using a circular microphone array to capture both temporal and spatial information of the desired room.
Download Automatic synthesis strategies for object-based dynamical physical models in musical acoustics Current physics-based synthesis techniques tend to synthesize the interaction between different functional elements of a sound generator by treating it as a single system. However, when dealing with the physical modeling of complex sound generators this choice raises questions about the resulting flexibility of the adopted synthesis strategy. One way to overcome this problem is to approach it by individually synthesizing and discretizing the objects that contribute to the generation of sounds. In this paper we address the problem of how to automatize the process of physically modeling the interaction between objects, and how to make it dynamical. We will show that this can be done through the automatic definition and implementation of a topology model that adapts to the contact and proximity conditions between the considered objects.
Download The wave digital reed: A passive formulation In this short paper, we address the numerical simulation of the single reed excitation mechanism. In particular, we discuss a formalism for approaching the lumped nonlinearity inherent in such a model using a circuit model and the application of wave digital filters (WDFs), which are of interest in that they allow simple stability verification, a property which is not generally guaranteed if one employs straightforward numerical methods. We present first a standard reed model, then its circuit representation, then finally the associated wave digital network. We then enter into some implementation issues, such as the solution of nonlinear algebraic equations, and the removal of delay-free loops, and present simulation results.
Download Sound synthesis by physical modelling using the functional transformation method: Efficient implementations with polyphase-filterbanks The Functional Transformation Method (FTM) is a recently introduced method for sound synthesis by physical modeling. Based on integral transformations, it provides a parallel system description for any linear physical model, usually described by a set of partial differential equations. Such parallel descriptions can be directly implemented by a set of recursive systems in full rate. In this PSfrag replacem paper we present a new and very ef£cient method for this implementation which bene£ts from the spectral decomposition of the system. All recursive systems are working at a subsampled rate and are summed up by the application of a polyphase £lterbank. Performance measurements on a real time implementation show, that a ¤exible and ef£cient realization is achieved. Compared to the direct implementation it is over nine times faster at the cost of nine milliseconds of delay and even faster with more delay.
Download A new estimation technique for determining the control parameters of a physical model of a trumpet A new estimation technique is proposed which computes the control parameters of a physical model of a trumpet in order to simulate a recording of a real instrument. First, the physical constraints of the instrument and the prior knowledge about how a player controls a trumpet are described. This is taken into account during the design of the data set and guarantees that these constraints are respected. Then, an estimation procedure minimizes two perceptual similarity criteria in function of the control parameters. The first criterium expresses the difference of the spectral envelopes and the second one the difference in fundamental frequency. An optimization technique is proposed that yields an optimal solution for the fundamental frequency, and a conditional suboptimal solution for the spectral envelope. A robust implementation of the technique was developed for which it is shown that the estimated parameters are unique and that the optimization does not suffer from local minima.
Download High frequency reconstruction for band-limited audio signals Current existing digital audio signals are always restricted by sampling rates and bandwidth fit for the various storages and communication bandwidth. Take for example the widely spread mp3 tracks encoded by the standard MPEG1 layer 3. The audio bandwidth in MP3 is restricted to 16 kHz due to the protocols constraints defined. This paper presents the method to reconstruct the lost high frequency components from the bandlimited signals. Both the subjective and objective measures have been conducted and shown the better quality. Especially, the important objective measurement by the perceptual evaluation of audio quality system, which is the recommendation system by ITU-R Task Group 10/4 has proven a significant quality improvement.