Three dimensional sound field reproduction using multiple circular loudspeaker arrays: Functional analysis guided approach

Three dimensional sound field reproduction based on higher order Ambisonics requires the placement of loudspeakers on a sphere that surrounds the target reproduction region. The deployment of a spherical array is not trivial especially for implementation in real rooms where the placement flexibility is highly desirable. This paper proposes a design of multiple circular loudspeaker arrays for reproducing three dimensional sound fields originating from a limited region of interest. We apply a functional analysis framework to formulate the sound field reproduction problem in a closed form. Secondary source distributions and target sound fields are modeled as two Hilbert spaces and mapped by an integral operator and its adjoint operator, from which a self-adjoint operator is constructed and the singular value decomposition is applied to represent source distributions and sound fields with two sets of interrelated singular functions. We derive the solutions for a circular secondary source arrangement and propose the design of placing multiple circular loudspeaker arrays only over the limited region of interest. Such a design allows for non-spherical and non-uniform loudspeaker placement and thus provides a flexible array arrangement. The reproduction accuracy of the proposed method is verified through numerical simulations.