Inversewave propagation for reproducing virtual sources in front of loudspeaker array

This paper presents a new combination of wave field synthesis with inverse wave propagation that can recreate virtual sound sources in front of a loudspeaker array. Wave field synthesis is a well-known sound field reproduction technique, based on the Rayleigh integral, that reconstructs sound pressure distribution by using a planar or linear loudspeaker array. We show that, using a holographic approach, the reconstruction position can be displaced towards the listener, in front of the secondary sources. As a result, virtual primary sources can be placed between the listener and the secondary sources. Numerical simulation results are presented to show the efficacy of the proposed method. We implemented an experimental system using linear microphone and loudspeaker arrays to reproduce the sound field in a real environment. Results of perceptual experiments showed that the proposed method can achieve sound localization accuracy for virtual sound sources equivalent to that for real sound sources.