Determination and Validation of Mix Parameters for Modifying Envelopment in Object-Based Audio

摘要

Envelopment is an important attribute of listener preference for spatial audio reproduction. Object-based audio offers the possibility of altering the rendering of an audio scene in order to modify or maintain perceptual attributes—including envelopment—if the relationships between attributes and mix parameters are known. In a method of adjustment experiment, mixing engineers were asked to produce mixes of four program items at low, medium, and high levels of envelopment in 2-channel, 5-channel, and 22-channel reproduction systems. The participants could vary a range of level, position, and equalization parameters that can be modified in object-based audio systems. The parameters could be varied separately for different semantic object categories. Nine parameters were found to have significant relationships with envelopment; parameters relating to the horizontal and vertical spread of sources were shown to be most important. A follow-on experiment demonstrated that these parameters can be adjusted to produce a range of envelopment levels in other program items.