The 2nd edition of this book is an English translation with further development from the original book in Chinese published by Science Press (Beijing, China, 2019). This comprehensive book systematically introduces the basic principles and methods with a wide range of applications of spatial sound. The author made a substantial effort to extensively summarize the latest research progress and results in this vibrant field, including those from the author's own research team. Focusing on the physical and auditory principles of spatial sound, this book unifies various spatial sound techniques within the theoretical framework of spatial function sampling, interpolation, and reconstruction. A comprehensive list of over 1500 reference items make this book especially valuable. The author has previously published another successful book in English on Head-Related Transfer Function and Virtual Auditory Display (J. Ross Publishing, 2013).
The topic of the spatial sound is of interdisciplinary nature, dealing with physical acoustics, physiological and psychological aspects of human hearing, electronic storage and transmission of sound signals, signal processing, computations, and even the art of music. This book prepares the readers for fundamental materials of sound field, spatial hearing, and sound reproduction (Chap. 1), followed by two-channel stereophonic sound and basic principles and analysis of multichannel surround sound (Chaps. 2 and 3), and multichannel horizontal and spatial surround sound (Chaps. 4–6). Chapters 7 and 8 discuss microphone and signal simulation, matrix surround sound, and mixing techniques of multichannel sound signals. Chapter 9 deals with physical analysis of multichannel sound field recording and reconstruction. Chapter 10 details the wave field synthesis for spatial sound reproduction. Chapters 11 and 12 present binaural reproduction, pressures, and auditory model analysis of spatial sound reproduction and virtual auditory display. Chapters 13 and 14 describe storage and transmission of spatial sound signals as well as acoustic conditions and requirements for subjective assessment and monitoring of spatial sound. Psychoacoustic investigations and subjective assessment of spatial sound and their applications are contained in Chaps. 15 and 16.
This is a necessary book for researchers, engineers, graduate students in audio engineering, acoustics, and signal processing of the field as it provides the readers with fundamental knowledge and the latest research trends in spatial sound. Readers will benefit in getting familiar with the frontier of the field after studying this book. It prepares the readers well to undertake scientific research and technology development in the fast-moving field of spatial sound.
