Mixed-Order Ambisonics Recording and Playback for Improving Horizontal Directionality

Abstract

Planar (2D) and periphonic (3D) higher-order Ambisonics (HOA) systems are widely used to reproduce spatial properties of acoustic scenarios. Mixed-order Ambisonics (MOA) systems combine the benet of higher order 2D systems, i.e. a high spatial resolution over a larger usable frequency bandwidth, with a lower order 3D system to reproduce elevated sound sources. In order to record MOA signals, the location of the microphones on a hard sphere were optimized to provide a robust MOA encoding. A detailed analysis of the encoding and decoding process showed that MOA can improve both the spatial resolution in the horizontal plane and the usable frequency bandwidth for playback as well as recording. Hence the described MOA scheme provides a promising method for improving the performance of current 3D sound reproduction systems.