Electroacoustics, Audio Reproduction, and Spatial Audio

4.0 credits

This course covers the foundations of electroacoustics and acoustics relevant to sound capture and reproduction. Of special interest are topics in spatial sound field capture and reproduction, the creation of immersive audio environment, and applications to virtual and augmented reality. Topics covered include: acoustic radiation from vibrating surfaces, radiation impedance, electro-mechano-acoustic circuits, loudspeaker design and characterization; the description, design and performance of microphones; the foundations of spatial audio capture, reproduction, and perception including the Kirchhoff-Helmholtz integral theorem and wave-field synthesis, solutions of the acoustic wave equation in spherical coordinates and ambisonics, and plane wave decomposition of acoustic fields and vector-based amplitude panning; microphone arrays for the capture of spatial audio and loudspeaker arrays for spatial control of acoustic radiation patterns; an introduction to the acoustics relevant to spatial audio perception including simple models of the interaction of acoustic waves with a listener’s head and torso, diffraction of sound by a sphere, and the measurement, modeling, measurement, and application of head-related transfer functions, the interaction of spatial audio systems with acoustic spaces and the loss of spatial audio perceptual cues. Course work will include a set of simulation and measurement projects assigned throughout the term and a final project.