Spatial Audio Panning With Elevated Sources Using Horizontal-Only Reproduction Loudspeakers

To reproduce virtual sound sources with elevation often elevated reproduction loudspeakers are required (for example with Ambisonics), or alternatively complex inverse filtering with horizontal-only loudspeakers is needed (for example with crosstalk cancellation). It has recently been demonstrated that, at low frequencies, crosstalk cancellation approximates the stereo sine law, which is a simple frequency-independent panning approach. This paper reinforces this link and analyses it for the 3D scenario considering elevated virtual sources. The classic stereo sine law is adapted to include elevation, which is achieved by mapping elevated sources through a cone of confusion to positions in the horizontal plane with no elevation. Results considering localization cues reproduced by a stereo loudspeaker array using measured data corroborate the findings. The inclusion of dynamic cues, such as through the head-tracked sine law, is suggested to improve the perceptual performance.