Encoding higher order ambisonics with AAC

In this work we explore a simple method for reducing the bit rate needed for transmitting and storing Higher Order Ambisonics (HOA).The HOA B-format signals are simply encoded using Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) as if they were individual mono signals.Wave field simulations show that by allocating more bits to the lower order signals than the higher the resulting error is very low in the sweet spot, but increases as function of distance from the center.Encoding the higher order signals with a low bit rate does not lead to a reduced audio quality.The spatial information is improved when higher-order channels are included, even if these are encoded with a low bit rate.