Reproducing the Acoustic Velocity Vectors in a Spherical Listening Region

Acoustic velocity vectors are related to the human's perception of sound at low frequencies and have been widely used in Ambisonics. This paper proposes a spatial sound field reproduction algorithm based on matching the acoustic velocity vectors in the spherical listening region. Using the sound field translation formula, the spherical harmonic coefficients of the acoustic velocity vectors in the spherical listening region are derived from the spherical harmonic coefficients of the pressure, which can be measured by a higher-order microphone array. Unlike previous work in which the acoustic velocity vectors are only controlled on the boundary of the listening region or at discrete sweet spots, this work directly manipulates the acoustic velocity vectors in the whole spherical listening region, which allows the listener to move beyond the sweet spots. Simulations show the proposed reproduction algorithm can accurately reproduce the acoustic velocity vectors in the spherical listening region, with better performance at low frequencies.