2.5D Sound Field Reproduction Using Higher Order Loudspeakers

Abstract Using 3-Dimensional (3D) sound sources as secondary sources to 2-Dimensional (2D) sound field reproduction, it is termed 2.5-Dimensional (2.5D) sound field reproduction which is currently drawing broad interest in acoustic signal processing. In this paper we propose a method to reproduce a 2D sound field, using a circular array of 3D High Order (HO) loudspeakers, which provides a mode matching solution based on 3D wave field translation. Using the spherical addition theorem, we first obtain a spherical harmonics representation of a 2D sound field reproduced by an array of HO loudspeakers. Then, the corresponding relationship between the reproduced sound field and the desired sound field is established by spherical/cylindrical harmonic expansions. Finally, the modal weights of HO loudspeakers are designed by using a least squares method. Simulation results show that the proposed method extends the reproduction region and significantly reduces the required minimum number of loudspeakers over the other referenced methods.