Methodology for 3D sound synthesis of directional acoustic sources by higher-order ambisonics

Abstract: This paper presents the 3D soundfield synthesis of the pressure field radiated by directional acoustic sources using both the multimodal method and higher-order ambisonics (HOA). Ambisonics is a technique for encoding and reproducing measured or modeled (virtual) sound pressure field, based on a decomposition of the acoustic field over spherical harmonics. The directional source considered in this work is an acoustic horn excited by a flat piston. The free-field radiation from this horn is first modeled accurately over a wide frequency range using the multimodal method, which requires relatively low computational resources. This radiated pressure field, collected on a dual-layer sphere of virtual sensors distributed over a Lebedev geometry, allows its projection into the ambisonic domain. The pressure field is then synthesized in the laboratory's 3D 5th order HOA spatialization sphere, which consists of fifty-six loudspeakers. This offers the ability of listening to the radiated sound using a higher-order ambisonic synthesis of a 'virtual' source before it is manufactured. To qualitatively evaluate the performance of the proposed procedure, the transfer function of the synthesized horn is measured around the listening point within the spatialization sphere.