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Plenary Lecture

Improvements of Sound 3D Auralisation by Means of Non-Linear Convolution

Professor Lamberto Tronchin
DIENCA - CIARM
University of Bologna
Italy
E-mail: Lamberto.tronchin@unibo.it

Abstract: The definition and measurement of sound spatialisation have been strongly enhanced in last years, as nowadays spatialisation is considered quite important during design of auditoria and virtual audio reproduction of sound quality in dedicated listening rooms for 3D reproduction purposes. Even though international standards like ISO 3382 require measuring some spatial parameters (i.e. LE, LF, IACC), usually only binaural measurements are performed, by means of a dummy head, and rarely 3D impulse responses are measured and utilised for sound reproduction. Furthermopre, the 3D spatialisation is obtained by means of linear convolution between dry signal and impulse responses.
In this paper, after an overview on the most common techniques utilised for 3D auralization, an innovative procedure of measuring and reproducing spatial sound characteristics is presented. The application of this new technique in virtual 3D sound reconstruction is presented and enhanced by means of non-linear convolution. Furthermore, the methodology is compared with other techniques of 3D sound reproduction. Moreover, the results of a wide campaign of measurements of spatial parameters among different auditoria all over the world, ranging from Italy to Japan and Australia, and conducted with the novel methodology, are compared with the results of standard binaural and 3D measurements. The possibility to enhance the spatial reproduction of sound quality in real spaces and the comprehensibility of spatial parameters is finally considered and presented in different cases.

Brief Biography of the Speaker: Dr Lamberto Tronchin is Associate Professor in Environmental Physics from the University of Bologna and is recognised internationally as a leading authority on the subject of sound and acoustics. A pianist himself, with a diploma in piano from the Conservatory of Reggio Emilia, Dr Tronchin's principal area of research has been musical acoustics and room acoustics. He is the author of more than 150 papers and was Chair of the Musical Acoustics Group of the Italian Association of Acoustics from 2000 to 2008. Dr Tronchin is a member of the Scientific Committee of the CIARM, the Inter- University Centre of Acoustics and Musical research, has chaired sessions of architectural and musical acoustics during several international symposiums, been a referee for a number of International journals and is Chair of Organising and Scientific Committees of IACMA (International Advanced Course on Musical Acoustics).
He was a visiting researcher at the University of Kobe in Japan, a visiting professor at the University of Graz in Austria and Special honored International Guest at the International Workshop, ‘Analysis, Synthesis and Perception of Music Signals', at Jadavpur University of Kolkata, India in 2005. He has chaired the International Advanced Course on Musical Acoustics (IACMA), organised with the European Association of Acoustics, which was held in Bologna, in 2005. In 2008 and 2009 he gave plenary lectures at International Congresses on Acoustics in Vancouver, Prague, Bucharest, Santander. He designed theatres and other buildings, as acoustic consultant, in collaboration with several Architects, among them Richard Meier and Paolo Portoghesi.