Rendering audio objects in a reproduction environment that includes surround and/or height speakers

A method, comprising:

• receiving audio data comprising audio objects, the audio objects comprising audio object signals and associated audio object metadata, the audio object metadata including at least audio object position data;
• receiving reproduction environment data comprising an indication of a number of reproduction speakers in a reproduction environment and indications of reproduction speaker locations within the reproduction environment;
• and
• rendering the audio objects into one or more speaker feed signals based, at least in part, on the audio object metadata, wherein each speaker feed signal corresponds to at least one of the reproduction speakers within the reproduction environment and wherein the rendering involves:
• determining, based at least in part on audio object position data for an audio object among the audio objects, a plurality of reproduction speakers for which speaker feed signals will be rendered;
• determining whether at least one reproduction speaker of the plurality of reproduction speakers for which speaker feed signals will be rendered is a surround speaker or a height speaker;
• determining, based at least in part on whether at least one reproduction speaker of the plurality of reproduction speakers for which speaker feed signals will be rendered is a surround speaker or a height speaker, an amount of decorrelation to apply to audio object signals corresponding to the audio object;
• and
• performing a decorrelation process to apply the determined amount of decorrelation to the audio object signals corresponding to the audio object,
• wherein the decorrelation process comprises, for each speaker feed signal, mixing the audio object signal and a decorrelated version of the audio object signal in accordance with a time-varying panning gain for the audio object signal and a time-varying panning gain for the decorrelated version of the audio object signal, the decorrelated version of the audio object signal being obtained by a decorrelator;
• and
• wherein respective time-varying panning gains for the decorrelated version of the audio object signal for the plurality of speaker feed signals sum to zero, so that the contribution of the decorrelator cancels out when the speaker feed signals are downmixed.

An apparatus, comprising:

• an interface system;
• and
• a logic system capable of:
• receiving, via the interface system, audio data comprising audio objects, the audio objects comprising audio object signals and associated audio object metadata, the audio object metadata including at least audio object position data;
• receiving reproduction environment data comprising an indication of a number of reproduction speakers in a reproduction environment and indications of reproduction speaker locations within the reproduction environment;
• and
• rendering the audio objects into one or more speaker feed signals based, at least in part, on the audio object metadata, wherein each speaker feed signal corresponds to at least one of the reproduction speakers within the reproduction environment and wherein the rendering involves:
• determining, based at least in part on audio object position data for an audio object among the audio objects, a plurality of reproduction speakers for which speaker feed signals will be rendered;
• determining whether at least one reproduction speaker of the plurality of reproduction speakers for which speaker feed signals will be rendered is a surround speaker or a height speaker;
• determining, based at least in part on whether at least one reproduction speaker of the plurality of reproduction speakers for which speaker feed signals will be rendered is a surround speaker or a height speaker, an amount of decorrelation to apply to audio object signals corresponding to the audio object;
• and
• performing a decorrelation process to apply the determined amount of decorrelation to the audio object signals corresponding to the audio object,
• wherein the decorrelation process comprises, for each speaker feed signal, mixing the audio object signal and a decorrelated version of the audio object signal in accordance with a time-varying panning gain for the audio object signal and a time-varying panning gain for the decorrelated version of the audio object signal, the decorrelated version of the audio object signal being obtained by a decorrelator;
• and
• wherein respective time-varying panning gains for the decorrelated version of the audio object signal for the plurality of speaker feed signals sum to zero, so that the contribution of the decorrelator cancels out when the speaker feed signals are downmixed.

An apparatus, comprising:

• interface means for data communication;
• and
• logic means for:
• receiving, via the interface means, audio data comprising audio objects, the audio objects comprising audio object signals and associated audio object metadata, the audio object metadata including at least audio object position data;
• receiving reproduction environment data comprising an indication of a number of reproduction speakers in a reproduction environment and indications of reproduction speaker locations within the reproduction environment;
• and
• rendering the audio objects into one or more speaker feed signals based, at least in part, on the audio object metadata, wherein each speaker feed signal corresponds to at least one of the reproduction speakers within the reproduction environment and wherein the rendering involves:
• determining, based at least in part on audio object position data for an audio object among the audio objects, a plurality of reproduction speakers for which speaker feed signals will be rendered;
• determining whether at least one reproduction speaker of the plurality of reproduction speakers for which speaker feed signals will be rendered is a surround speaker or a height speaker;
• determining, based at least in part on whether at least one reproduction speaker of the plurality of reproduction speakers for which speaker feed signals will be rendered is a surround speaker or a height speaker, an amount of decorrelation to apply to audio object signals corresponding to the audio object;
• and
• performing a decorrelation process to apply the determined amount of decorrelation to the audio object signals corresponding to the audio object,
• wherein the decorrelation process comprises, for each speaker feed signal, mixing the audio object signal and a decorrelated version of the audio object signal in accordance with a time-varying panning gain for the audio object signal and a time-varying panning gain for the decorrelated version of the audio object signal, the decorrelated version of the audio object signal being obtained by a decorrelator;
• and
• wherein respective time-varying panning gains for the decorrelated version of the audio object signal for the plurality of speaker feed signals sum to zero, so that the contribution of the decorrelator cancels out when the speaker feed signals are downmixed.

A non-transitory medium having software stored thereon, the software including instructions for controlling at least one apparatus to perform the following operations:

• receiving audio data comprising audio objects, the audio objects comprising audio object signals and associated audio object metadata, the audio object metadata including at least audio object position data;
• receiving reproduction environment data comprising an indication of a number of reproduction speakers in a reproduction environment and indications of reproduction speaker locations within the reproduction environment;
• and
• rendering the audio objects into one or more speaker feed signals based, at least in part, on the audio object metadata, wherein each speaker feed signal corresponds to at least one of the reproduction speakers within the reproduction environment and wherein the rendering involves:
• determining, based at least in part on audio object position data for an audio object among the audio objects, a plurality of reproduction speakers for which speaker feed signals will be rendered;
• determining whether at least one reproduction speaker of the plurality of reproduction speakers for which speaker feed signals will be rendered is a surround speaker or a height speaker;
• determining, based at least in part on whether at least one reproduction speaker of the plurality of reproduction speakers for which speaker feed signals will be rendered is a surround speaker or a height speaker, an amount of decorrelation to apply to audio object signals corresponding to the audio object;
• and
• performing a decorrelation process to apply the determined amount of decorrelation to the audio object signals corresponding to the audio object,
• wherein the decorrelation process comprises, for each speaker feed signal, mixing the audio object signal and a decorrelated version of the audio object signal in accordance with a time-varying panning gain for the audio object signal and a time-varying panning gain for the decorrelated version of the audio object signal, the decorrelated version of the audio object signal being obtained by a decorrelator;
• and
• wherein respective time-varying panning gains for the decorrelated version of the audio object signal for the plurality of speaker feed signals sum to zero, so that the contribution of the decorrelator cancels out when the speaker feed signals are downmixed.