Three-dimensional sound capture and reproduction system

声场再现（SFR）和声学成像（AI）是声学中的相似且重要的问题，它们分别使用扬声器天线合成空间声场和麦克风天线识别空间声发射源。近年来，经济实惠的紧凑型麦克风和扬声器的发展以及在数百个通道上获取和处理音频数据的可能性引发了这些领域的大量研究。SFR的目标-在太空中重新创建任意声场-长期以来一直吸引着艺术家和音乐家，但这个主题在工程中仍然很大程度上未被探索。然而，虚拟声学和虚拟/增强现实技术必将通过将人和听觉体验置于产品声学设计的中心来深刻改变工程实践。近年来，两个申请人已经进行了关于在实验室中、在工业环境中的飞机和火车车厢中的声场的空间再现以及关于使用这些技术来精确表征材料的声学和振动声学特性的研究。

Sound Field Reproduction (SFR) and Acoustic Imaging (AI) are analogous and important problems in acoustics, that use respectively loudspeaker antennas to synthesize sound fields in space and microphone antennas to identify sources of sound emission in space. The recent development of affordable, compact microphones and loudspeakers as well as the possibility to acquire and process audio data over hundreds of channels have triggered a lot of research in these areas recently. The goal of SFR – to re-create arbitrary sound fields in space – has long fascinated artists and musicians but this topic remains largely unexplored in engineering. Yet, virtual acoustics and virtual / augmented reality technology are bound to deeply modify engineering practice by placing humans and listening experience at the center of the acoustic design of products. In recent years, the two applicants have conducted research on the spatial reproduction, in laboratory, of sound fields in aircraft and train cabins, in industrial environments as well as on the use of these techniques for the precise characterization of acoustic and vibro-acoustic properties of materials.