Parametric Spatial Sound Processing Using Linear Microphone Arrays

Abstract

The recording and reproduction of spatial audio gains increasing attention since multichannel sound systems have been established in modern audio applications. Directional Audio Coding (DirAC) represents an efficient description of spatial sound in terms of a few audio downmix signals and parametric side information in frequency sub-bands, namely the direction-of-arrival and diffuseness of the sound. Traditionally, the directional parameters are derived based on the active sound intensity vector, which can be efficiently estimated via two or threedimensional microphone grids. However, due to form factor constraints, linear microphone arrays are often more suitable in practice and thus, alternative parameter estimation techniques are required. In this contribution, a framework for parametric spatial audio processing based on linear microphone arrays is presented allowing for an efficient recording, enhancement, and reproduction of spatial sound. Different application examples are discussed including parametric directional filtering and de-reverberation.