Virtual audio system and techniques

• US 20030007648A1
• Filed: 04/29/2002
• Published: 01/09/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/2001
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Christopher Currell
• Original Assignee: Christopher Currell
• Inventors: Currell, Christopher
• Application Number:
  US10/134,035
• Publication Number:
  US 20030007648A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 381/61
• CPC Class Codes: G10K 15/08 Arrangements for producing a reverberation or echo sound modifying acoustic properties to change reverberation time G10K11/002
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 2400/11 Positioning of individual sound objects, e.g. moving airplane, within a sound field H04S2420/13 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 7/30 Control circuits for electronic adaptation of the sound field
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 7/302 Electronic adaptation of stereophonic sound system to listener position or orientation H04S7/301 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 7/305 Electronic adaptation of stereophonic audio signals to reverberation of the listening space H04S7/301 takes precedence

Abstract

A sound processing apparatus for creating virtual sound sources in a three dimensional space includes a number of modules. These include an aural exciter module; an automated panning module; a distance control module; a delay module; an occlusion and air absorption module; a Doppler module for pitch shifting; a location processor module; and an output.

Claims

1. A sound processing apparatus for creating virtual sound sources in a three dimensional space, the apparatus comprising:

an aural exciter module;

an automated panning module;

a distance control module;

a delay module;

an occlusion and air absorption module;

a Doppler module for pitch shifting;

a location processor module; and

an output.

2. The sound processing apparatus of claim 1 wherein the aural exciter module is configured to receive an input from a multi-track output.

3. The sound processing apparatus of claim 1 wherein the delay module is configured to delay sound for between 0 milliseconds and 300 milliseconds.

4. The sound processing apparatus of claim 1 wherein the location processor module is configured to use head related transfer functions to process a signal.

5. The sound processing apparatus of claim 1 wherein the location processor module is configured to use a FIR filter to process a signal.

6. The sound processing apparatus of claim 1 wherein the location processor module is configured to use a free field equalization to process a signal.

7. A sound processing apparatus for creating virtual sound sources in a three dimensional space, the apparatus comprising:

means for providing direct audio signals;

reverberation means for creating at least one reverberant stream of signals from the audio signals to simulate a desired configuration of reflected sound; and

directionalizing means for applying spectral directional cues to one or multiple reverberant streams to generate at least one pair of output signals.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein multiple reverberant streams are generated by the reverberation means and the directionalizing means is configured to apply a directionalizing transfer function to each reverberant stream to generate multiple directionalized reverberant streams from each reverberant stream.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 further comprising output means for producing a multiple of output signals, each output signal comprising the sum of multiple directionalized reverberant streams, each being derived from a different reverberant stream.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein each reverberant stream includes at least one direct sound component and wherein a free field directional cue is superimposed on the direct sound component.

11. The apparatus of claim 8 further comprising a stereo filter means for filtering at least one pair of directionalized reverberant streams.

12. The apparatus of claim 8 further comprising a gain control configured to emphasize at least one part of one reverberant stream.

13. The apparatus of claim 8 further comprising specifications of a reverberant apparatus for the application of scaling data to the audio signals to simulate sound absorption and reflection.

14. The apparatus of claim 8 further comprising specifications of a reverberant apparatus for the implementation of a filter to filter the audio signals to simulate sound absorption and reflection.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein generating at least one reverberant stream comprises generating at least one direct sound component as part of the reverberant stream.

17. The method of claim 15 further comprising filtering at least one of the reverberant streams.

18. The method of claim 15 further comprising emphasizing at least part of one reverberant stream.

19. The method of claim 15 wherein generating at least one reverberant stream further comprises filtering during generation of the reverberant stream to simulate sound absorption and reflection.

20. The method of claim 15 further comprising dynamically changing the spectral directional cues to simulate sound source and listener motion.

15. A method of processing sound signals comprising of steps of:

generating at least one reverberant stream of audio signals simulating a desired configuration of reflected sounds; and

superimposing at least one spectral directional cue on at least part of one reverberant stream.