Virtual sound source positioning for un-fixed speaker set up

Surround sound is widely used in many real world applications to immerse the listeners with a complete audio environment. Mobile devises are also experiencing a rapid increasing in terms of both devise functionality and popularity. Mobile applications such as mobile teleconferencing can take advantage of the surround sound technology to enhance the audio quality for users. However, many technical challenges still exist in this field. Traditionally, surround sound is deployed in play back systems with a fixed set up. In mobile surround, the location of both the handsets and the audiences may vary during the play back. To address this issue, different multi-channel codec and virtual source positioning techniques are studied in this thesis. A post-processer is built based on Vector Base Amplitude Panning (VBAP) with Audience Targeted Vector. This vector base approach allows us to move the loudspeakers and the audience independent from each other. Both MATLAB simulation and listening test were carried out to evaluate proposed algorithm. The results show that this approach achieves a good listening quality with stereo-like mobile phones playback system.