SIGNAL-PROCESSING, ACOUSTICS, AND PSYCHOACOUSTICS FOR HIGH-QUALITY DESK-TOP AUDIO

Integrated media workstations are increasingly being used for creating , editing, and monitoring sound that is associated with video or compu ter-generated images. While the requirements for high quality reproduc tion in large-scale systems are well understood, these have not yet be en adequately translated to the workstation environment. In this paper we discuss several factors that pertain to high quality sound reprodu ction at the desktop, including acoustical and psychoacoustical consid erations, signal processing requirements, and the importance of dynami cally adapting the reproduced sound as the listener's head moves. We p resent a desktop audio system that incorporates several novel design r equirements and integrates vision-based listener-tracking for accurate spatial sound reproduction. We conclude with a discussion of the role the pinnae play in immersive (3D) audio reproduction and present a me thod of pinna classification that allows users to select a set of para meters that closely match their individual listening characteristics. (C) 1998 Academic Press.