The present invention relates to a sound image localization apparatus for localizing a sound image in a given spot in three-dimensional space.
As shown in
The sound source signal input into the above-mentioned sound image localization apparatus is convolved with a head-related transfer function corresponding to a designated position, and outputted to an acoustic device such as a headphone or speakers as a sound image localizing signal. When the sound image localizing signal is outputted to the acoustic device under the condition that the head-related transfer function H(f) exceeds 0 dB in the range of a peak included in its amplitude component as shown in
In order to solve this problem, the conventional sound image localization apparatus reduces a gain on all frequency range, and utilizes the head-related transfer function which limits the peak frequency range not to exceed 0 dB as shown in
As an example of a conventional sound processing apparatus, there has been known a circuit for controlling a quality of a sound to be outputted from an acoustic device such as speakers to prevent the sound from being distorted by a clipping distortion (see patent document 1).
Patent document 1: Japanese Public Patent Publication No. 07-059187
The above-mentioned conventional sound image localization apparatus however encounters such a problem that, when the sound source signal is processed on the basis of a head-related transfer function for holding down its peaks to 0 [dB] or less, the volume of a sound image localizing signal is considerably reduced in comparison with that of the sound source signal.
Further, a method using a limiter, a compressor or the like acts on a signal nonlinearly in the time domain to deteriorate an output signal's frequency characteristic. Therefore, the component necessary to form peaks and dips of the amplitude component of the head-related transfer function, and localize a sound image tends to be distorted.
Further, a sound processing apparatus, to which a sound volume and quality adjusting function disclosed in the patent document 1 is applied, is adapted to reduce peaks and dips of the amplitude component of the head-related transfer function. Therefore, the sound processing apparatus tends to deteriorate the component for localizing a sound image.
In order to solve the problems, the present invention is to provide a sound image localization apparatus which can suppress a clipping distortion without reducing the volume of the sound image localizing signal, and prevent its signal components necessary for localizing a sound image from being deteriorated.
According to an aspect of the invention, a sound image localization apparatus for executing a sound image localizing processing on the basis of a head-related transfer function, comprising: a frequency component comparing/correcting unit operable to compare frequency components of a sound source signal with frequency components of the head-related transfer function corresponding to a position of the sound image to be localized, to determine whether or not a sound image localizing signal is distorted by a clipping distortion, and to correct the frequency components of the sound source signal or the head-related transfer function when the sound image localizing signal is distorted by the clipping distortion; and a sound image localization processing unit operable to execute data processing by using the sound source signal and the head-related transfer function corrected by the frequency component comparing/correcting unit, to output a sound image localizing signal, wherein the frequency component comparing/correcting unit suppresses an amplitude of the head-related transfer function for each unit of peak or dip.
In this aspect of the invention, when it is determined that the clipping occurs, an amplitude component is suppressed for each unit of peak or dip of the head-related transfer function, avoiding lowering the sound volume of the sound image localizing signal while avoiding the occurrence of the clipping and further avoiding deteriorating the component for positioning a sound image included in the sound image localizing signal.
According to another aspect of the invention, a sound image localization apparatus for executing a sound image localizing processing on the basis of a head-related transfer function, comprising: a sound image localization processing unit operable to process a sound source signal by using a head-related transfer function corresponding to a target position, to output a sound image localizing signal; and a frequency component comparing/correcting unit operable to determine whether or not the sound image localizing signal is distorted by a clipping distortion in a frequency range, and to correct frequency components of the sound image localizing signal when the sound image localizing signal is distorted by the clipping distortion in the frequency range, wherein the frequency component comparing/correcting unit suppresses an amplitude of the head-related transfer function for each unit of peak or dip.
In this aspect of the invention, when the clipping occurs, an amplitude component is suppressed for each unit of peak or dip of the head-related transfer function, avoiding lowering the sound volume of the sound image localizing signal while avoiding the occurrence of the clipping and further avoiding deteriorating the component for positioning a sound image included in the sound image localizing signal.
As described above, the present invention is to provide a sound image localization apparatus which can suppress a clipping distortion without reducing the volume of the sound image localizing signal, and prevent its signal components necessary for localizing a sound image from being deteriorated.
Embodiments of the sound image localization apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
As shown in
The head-related transfer function storage unit 101 has, as filter coefficients to be set to finite impulse response filter (hereinafter simply referred to as “FIR filter”), head-related transfer functions corresponding to respective positions to be selectively designated as a target position.
Here, the head-related transfer function may be characterized in that the volume of the sound image localizing signal is not reduced in comparison with that of the original sound source signal when the sound source signal is convolved with the selected head-related transfer function stored in the head-related transfer function storage unit 101. In other words, the selected head-related transfer function may exceed 0 dB in a frequency range corresponding to its peak as shown in
These elements of the sound image localization apparatus shown in
The following description is directed to the operation of the sound image localization apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
Firstly, the head-related transfer function selecting unit 102 selects, from the head-related transfer function storage unit 101, a head-related transfer function corresponding to a target position set by position information, and outputs the selected head-related transfer function to the frequency component analyzing unit 103.
When, on the other hand, the head-related transfer function selecting unit 102 can not select, from the head-related transfer function storage unit 101, a head-related transfer function corresponding to a target position set by position information, the head-related transfer function selecting unit 102 may calculate a head-related transfer function corresponding to a target position set by position information by using two or more head-related transfer functions corresponding to positions adjacent to the designated target position, and by performing a well-known interpolating operation.
Next, the frequency component analyzing unit 103 converts a selected head-related transfer function into frequency components by using, for instance, Fourier transform, and outputs the frequency components of the selected head-related transfer function to the frequency component comparing/correcting unit 105.
Similarly, the frequency component analyzing unit 104 converts a sound source signal into frequency components by using, for instance, Fourier transform, and outputs the frequency components of the sound source signal to the frequency component comparing/correcting unit 105.
The frequency component comparing/correcting unit 105 determines whether the sound image localizing signal is distorted by a particular frequency range by comparing the frequency components of the selected head-related transfer function with the frequency components of the sound source signal. When the determination is made that the sound image localizing signal is distorted by the clipping distortion, frequency component comparing/correcting unit 105 corrects the frequency component of the head-related transfer function and, outputs the corrected frequency component of the head-related transfer function to the sound image localization processing unit 106.
As a concrete operation of the frequency component comparing/correcting unit 105, as shown in
When, for example, the selected head-related transfer function is convolved with the sound source signal under the condition that −|H(f)|>|S(f)| over the entire frequency range, the sound image localizing signal is not distorted by the clipping distortion. Therefore, the frequency component comparing/correcting unit 105 outputs the selected head-related transfer function to the sound image localization processing unit 106 without correcting the selected head-related transfer function when −|H(f)|>|S(f)| over the entire frequency range.
When the selected head-related transfer function is convolved with the sound source signal under the condition that −|H(f)|<|S(f)| in a frequency range as shown in
In this case, the deterioration of the sound image positioning component is prevented not only by correcting the frequency range which becomes −|H(f)|>|S(f)|, but by correcting the head-related transfer function H(f) so as to suppress the frequency component for each unit of peak including the above frequency range by a difference amount ΔL, as shown in
As a concrete example, the frequencies f1 and fu defined on both side of the peak as shown in
Alternatively, the center frequency fc and the bandwidth w of the peak can be prepared in advance for each HRTF toward the positioning direction. Otherwise, these will be computed automatically from the given HRTF. Then, based on these frequency values, an IIR filter is constructed and applied to HRTF so that the frequency component where the clipping occurs is suppressed by an amount ΔL.
Also, the inventor showed that it is possible to position a sound image at a target location by suppressing the amplitude component of the frequency range corresponding to at least one side of the peak which occurs in the amplitude component of the head-related transfer function (see Japanese Patent Application 2004-270316).
Consequently, in addition to suppressing the peaks of the head-related transfer function H(f) as shown in
As a concrete example, as shown in
Alternatively, the center frequency fc and the bandwidth w can be prepared in advance for each HRTF in the positioning direction and set to cover over the dips on both sides of the peak or the dips to be created. Otherwise, these will be computed automatically from the given HRTF. Then, based on these frequency values, an IIR filter is constructed and applied to HRTF so that the frequency component where the clipping occurs is suppressed by an amount ΔL.
In both cases, if the dip on both sides of the peak cannot be emphasized enough, or if it is not possible to create a new dip, an IIR filter can be added to the relevant range as shown in
The sound image localization processing unit 106 multiplies the frequency component of the sound source signal with the frequency component of the head-related transfer function, which corresponds to the convolution in the time domain, and outputs the sound image localizing signal which is converted, using inverse Fourier transform, into time domain waveform.
As explained above, in the first embodiment of the present invention, the sound image localization is processed by comparing the frequency component of the sound source signal with that of the head-related transfer function and by correcting, for each unit of peak or dip, the head-related transfer function over the frequency component where the clipping occurs and its neighboring frequency component. These processes can prevent the volume decrease of the sound image localizing signal and clipping, and avoid the deterioration of the sound image positioning component of the sound image localizing signal.
Also, in the first embodiment of the present invention, although the frequency component comparing/correcting unit 105 suppresses the clipping distortion by correcting the head-related transfer function, it is possible to achieve the same effect by correcting the sound source signal.
As a modification of the first embodiment of the invention, instead of the structure explained in
As another modification of the first embodiment of the present invention, the head-related transfer function may be generated by a plurality of IIR filters as shown in
As explained with reference to
As shown in
As shown in
The sound image localization processing unit 106 outputs a sound image localizing signal by filtering the sound source signal on the basis of the corrected parameters of the IIR filters.
The sound image localization apparatus thus constructed can perform a sound image localizing operation with a small number of calculations for the sound image localizing operation in comparison with FIR filters.
As shown in
Also, the same numerical references are applied to components of the sound image localization apparatus related to the second embodiment of the present invention which are the same as that used for the sound image localization apparatus related to the first embodiment.
The following description is directed to the operation of the sound image localization apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in
The frequency component analyzing unit 202 converts a sound image localizing signal computationally generated by the sound image localization processing unit 201 into frequency components by using Fourier transform method or the like, and outputs the frequency components to the frequency component correcting unit 203.
The frequency component correcting unit 203 determines whether the clipping has occurred in a particular frequency range or not, and if the clipping is determined to have occurred, the correction of the sound image localizing signal is performed on each unit of the peaks or the dips of the head-related transfer function by preparing the frequencies in advance on either sides of the peak of the head-related transfer function similarly to the frequency component comparing/correcting unit 105 as discussed in the first embodiment or by computing these frequencies automatically. Then, it outputs the sound image localizing signal which is converted, using inverse Fourier transform, into time domain waveform.
When, for example, the absolute value |P(f)| of the amplitude component of the sound image localizing signal does not exceed 0 dB over the entire frequency range as shown in
As shown in
As explained above, in the second embodiment of the invention, the sound source signal is convolved with the head-related transfer function, and only the amplitude component of the convolved sound source signal corresponding to the frequency range in which the clipping occurs and its neighboring frequency ranges is suppressed and output. This suppression prevents the volume of the sound image localizing signal from decreasing and clipping, and then avoids the deterioration of the sound image positioning component of the sound image localizing signal.
As shown in
Also, as shown in
In each embodiment, if the sound image localization apparatus can estimate a frequency range in which the sound image localizing signal is distorted, the sound image localization apparatus may be operative to determine whether or not the sound image localizing signal is distorted only in a frequency range previously estimated, and can obtain the same advantageous effects.
For example, as shown in
Also, the time length during which the frequency component analyzer 103 converts the sound source signal or the head-related transfer function into frequency components may be set to be the same length as the inputted sound source signal or it may be set shorter.
When using the limiter and the compressor in each of the aforementioned embodiment as used in the existing sound image localization apparatus, the amount of suppression applied to the amplitude component corresponding to the frequency range on which the clipping occurs can be set slightly less. This process decreases the nonlinear transformation of the frequency component that arises due to the processing of the limiter and compressor; therefore, the deterioration of the component used for the sound image localization in the sound image localizing signal is prevented.
According to “Spatial Hearing” by Blauert (Kajima Institute Publishing), it has been found that there is a deep connection between the sound image localization and an auditory phenomenon called “directional band.”
For example, in case the clipping peak coincides with the directional band of the target direction, a dip may be emphasized or created on either sides of the peak in addition to suppressing the peak as it is an important component of the sound image localization. On the other hand, if the peak does not coincide with the directional band of the target direction, the peak may simply be suppressed due to the fact that it is not an important component of the sound image localization.
Thus, in the above, the explanation of the first and second embodiments has been given. It should be noted that because the sound image localization apparatus related to the embodiments of the present invention memorizes the head-related transfer function as a data of the frequency component using the head-related transfer function storage section 111, the frequency analysis of the head-related transfer function is omitted. Therefore, the sound image localization can be realized with smaller amount of calculation.
Additionally, the sound image localization apparatus according to the first and second embodiments of the present invention can limit the frequency range from which the occurrence of clipping is determined due to the fact that the clipping is determined only for the frequency range whose amplitude of the frequency component of the head-related transfer function exceeds predetermined amplitude such as 0 dB. Therefore, sound image localization can be realized with smaller amount of calculation.
As will be seen from the foregoing description, the sound image localization apparatus according to the present invention can suppress a clipping distortion without reducing the volume of the sound image localizing signal, and prevent its signal components necessary for localizing a sound image from being deteriorated. Thus, it has considerable applicability for general devices that plays sound such as cellular phones that use sound image localization, sound devices, sound recorders, communication devices, game devices, conference devices, communication and broadcasting systems.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2006-067631 | Mar 2006 | JP | national |
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WO2007/119330 | 10/25/2007 | WO | A |
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