Poznan Supercomputing and Networking Center (PSNC) developed an ambisonic installation and workflow as part of audio-visual 8K VR 360° immersive media experiments. This work aimed to investigate the quality of performance of the PSNC setup through both subjective tests as well as simulations providing objective parameters of interaural characteristics in a real-life scenario of PSNC studio. For the objective part, an algorithm for angle estimation has been proposed and computations were performed.

This project aimed to investigate the correlation between virtual reality (VR) imagery and ambisonic sound. With the increasing popularity of VR applications, understanding how sound is perceived in virtual environments is crucial for enhancing the immersiveness of the experience.
In the experiment, participants were immersed in a virtual environment that replicated a concert hall. Their task was to assess the correspondence between sound scenes (which differed in reverberation times and their characteristics) and the observed invariant visual scene. The research was conducted using paired tests. Participants were asked to identify the sound scene they considered more closely matched the concert hall seen in the VR goggles for each pair. Each sound scene differed in the employed impulse response. All the impulse responses were recorded in real venues such as concert halls, auditoriums, churches, etc. To provide a realistic auditory experience, the sound scenes were processed using third-order ambisonics and decoded using binaural techniques with HRTFs. The virtual concert hall was generated using the Unreal Engine and was the same for all the tests.
One of the major conclusions drawn from the conducted research was confirming the role of spatial sound in creating immersive VR experiences. The study demonstrated that appropriately matching spatial sound to the VR visual scene is essential for achieving complete immersion. Additionally, expectations and preferences regarding reverberation characteristics in different types of spaces were discovered. These findings have significant implications for the design of virtual environments, and understanding these aspects can contribute to improving VR technology and creating more immersive and realistic virtual experiences for users.

This study assessed sound localisation definition in ambisonic systems using two-non-parametric and three parametric decoders, in a two-dimensional format. The sound samples were played back through eight loudspeakers arranged in a circle. The participants compared pairs of sound samples to determine which sample offered a more precise perception of the sound source’s location. The data analysis, using a Bradley-Terry probability mode, revealed that parametric decoders were preferred with a 60–83% probability. Among the parametric decoders, the COMPASS method, which utilizes the Multiple Signal Classification algorithm for sound source direction estimation, received the highest scores for sound localisation judgements.

Available methods for room-related sound presentation are introduced and evaluated. A focus is put on the synthesis side rather than on complete transmission systems. Different methods are compared using common, though quite general criteria. The methods selected for comparison are: Intensity Stereophony after Blumlein, vector-base amplitude panning (VBAP), 5.1-Surround and its discrete-channel derivatives, synthesis with spherical harmonics (Ambisonics, HOA), synthesis based on the boundary method, namely, wave-field synthesis (WFS), and binaural-cue selection methods (e.g., DiRAC). While VBAP, 5.1-Surround and other discrete-channel-based methods show a number of practical advantages, they do, in the end, not aim at authentic sound-field reproduction. The so-called holophonic methods that do so, particularly, HOA and WFS, have specific advantages and disadvantages which will be discussed. Yet, both methods are under continuous development, and a decision in favor of one of them should be taken from a strictly application-oriented point of view by considering relevant application-specific advantages and disadvantages in detail.

As the virtual reality (VR) market is growing at a fast pace, numerous users and producers are emerging with the hope to navigate VR towards mainstream adoption. Although most solutions focus on providing highresolution and high-quality videos, the acoustics in VR is as important as visual cues for maintaining consistency with the natural world. We therefore investigate one of the most important audio solutions for VR applications: ambisonics. Several VR producers such as Google, HTC, and Facebook support the ambisonic audio format. Binaural ambisonics builds a virtual loudspeaker array over a VR headset, providing immersive sound. The configuration of the virtual loudspeaker influences the listening perception, as has been widely discussed in the literature. However, few studies have investigated the influence of the orientation of the virtual loudspeaker array. That is, the same loudspeaker arrays with different orientations can produce different spatial effects. This paper introduces a VR audio technique with optimal design and proposes a dual-mode audio solution. Both an objective measurement and a subjective listening test show that the proposed solution effectively enhances spatial audio quality.

In virtual acoustics or artificial reverberation, impulse responses can be split so that direct and reflected components of the sound field are reproduced via separate loudspeakers. The authors had investigated the perceptual effect of angular separation of those components in commonly used 5.0 and 7.0 multichannel systems, with one and three sound sources respectively (Kleczkowski et al., 2015, J. Audio Eng. Soc. 63, 428-443). In that work, each of the front channels of the 7.0 system was fed with only one sound source. In this work a similar experiment is reported, but with phantom sound sources between the front loud- speakers. The perceptual advantage of separation was found to be more consistent than in the condition of discrete sound sources. The results were analysed both for pooled listeners and in three groups, according to experience. The advantage of separation was the highest in the group of experienced listeners.