Surround Sound and Human Perception

This topic should fit into both the 'technical' and 'creative' approach to the research into surround sound.


Gerzon, 1974. (Surround Sound and Psychoacoustics): (article is perhaps a little outdated)

• Useful data on different mechanisms at differing frequencies that the ear uses to locate sound source. 
• Reference for ambiguity and 'relative to the individual' in perception of the location of the sound source (bottom of P.1) 
• Talk of Encoder and Decoder for speaker setup (p.2)
• Below 700Hz the amplitudes are not generally affected by the human head (p.2)
• Phase difference between the ears as means of source location (p.2 also see report done in acoustics module about perception of sound sources) 
• General localisation (p.3)
• Reverberation to aid localisation (end of p.3 - p.4)

Test into 5.1 Surround Sound 'image' localisation with Recording implementations

Authors: Martin, Geoff; Woszczyk, Wieslaw; Corey, Jason; Quesnel, René
Affiliation: McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
AES Convention:107 (September 1999) Paper Number:4994  
Subject:Multichannel Audio Synthesis, Reproduction, and Control

"Journal Entry" <-----------details experiment

• conclusions state that a Interchannel Amplitude difference is more effective when localising the 'phantom image' than Interchannel Time Difference. (p.8)

Mastering and Spatial recreation techniques for Surround Sound

• The above link is of a patent for a system involving a surround sound setup (physical equations etc....and details outlining the reasons behind the invention.

Surround Sound book:

• This book (when the actual material and not just the contents and index are available) will provide useful information across the whole spectrum of surround Sound

Extras:

Surround Sound in Headphone patent

• Personal comfort application for surround sound using specially designed headphones with mini jack lead. portable devices etc....

Surround sound Panner

• This provides a bit of historical context to surround sound in the "Background" section
• Mentions Cinema demand and Dolby Pro Logic, availability on "Videotape and Laserdisk" and the rise in use in the recorded music business.