Development of wearable sound-space acquisition and reproduction system based on auditory display

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K00280
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Human interface and interaction
• Research Institution: Akita Prefectural University
• Principal Investigator: Watanabe Kanji 秋田県立大学, システム科学技術学部, 准教授 (20452998)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: バーチャルリアリティ / 収音 / マイクロホンアレイ / ビームフォーミング / 聴覚ディスプレイ / 空間音響 / 音場合成 / 臨場感

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The system to acquire the sound signal for each direction of arrival by beamforming was constructed. In addition, the system that reproduce the sound space by synthesizing sound image corresponding to beam signals using the auditory display system was realized. The system consists of linear microphone arrays and beams directed forward 29 directions. The frequency range is divided into 7 bands. It is limited when the sound sources are located only forward, but objective and subjective evaluation showed that the system was able to acquire spatial information in any sound space and was effective for reproducing with high accuracy.

Free Research Field

音響学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

ある音空間を任意の空間で高精度に再現可能なシステムを実現した．本システムは，聴取者にとってあたかも遠隔地の空間にいるかのような高い臨場感を与えることができるもので，バーチャルリアリティの発展やコミュニケーションシステムの高度化への貢献が期待できる．同様なシステムの例はあるものの，収音におけるアレイやビームの条件，適用帯域に関する検討はまだ不十分であるため，本研究によって得られた知見は従来のシステムにも反映され得るものであり，学術的にも意義があると考えている．