Ambisonics algorithm helps create rich virtual soundscapes using a domed array of loudspeakers

Surround-sound speakers can immerse you in a multimedia experience, but what if there was a speaker that could completely re-create a three-dimensional soundscape?

The AudioDome is more than just a loudspeaker arrangement—it's a dome of speakers that can create an immersive sound experience that reproduces sound sources at any location when the listener is placed in the middle.

In The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, researchers from Western University in London, Ontario decided to test the limits of ambisonic sound reproduction through their "AudioDome" loudspeaker array.

Ambisonic rendering is a way to simulate the precise locations of sounds in 3D, using an array of loudspeakers. The ambisonics algorithm has allowed researchers to create rich virtual "soundscapes," with each sound ...