Control of Sound Fields Using Loudspeaker Arrays

Humans have an amazing ability to localise sounds. Placing virtual sound sources around a listener can play an important role in critical applications such as air-traffic control and pilot early warning systems. Immersive 3D audio provides a means of achieving this, although current systems are notoriously non-robust. The fundamental problem underlying 3D audio, and many other acoustic problems, is to control the sound field in an extended region of space. This project will determine the fundamental feasibility of such control using a limited number of loudspeakers, analyze its robustness, and apply the results to develop better 3D audio systems.