Sharp-sound-image Construction Method Using Multichannel Sound System with Optimal Parametric Loudspeaker Arrangement

It is difficult to construct a sharp sound image using electro-dynamic loudspeakers (EDLs) due to wide directivity and high reverberation. A parametric array loudspeaker (PAL) can produce sharper directivity than an EDL due to the straightness of ultrasound. Therefore, a sharp sound image can be constructed with PALs. We previously proposed a sharp-sound-image construction method involving multiple PALs in addition to a conventional 22.2 surround sound system. Experimental results indicated that this method can construct a sharp sound image with high sound quality at any desired position in a horizontal plane. However, the optimal arrangement of PALs is insufficient in the horizontal and vertical planes. Therefore, we propose a sharp-sound-image construction method that involves a multi-channel sound system with two optimal PAL arrangements to obtain more accurate sound localization. We conducted objective and subjective experiments to evaluate the proposed method, and the experimental results indicate the effectiveness of the method.