Combined Near-Field and Far-Field Audio Rendering and Playback

An audio processing method, comprising:

• receiving audio reproduction data;
• determining, based on the audio reproduction data, a sound source location, relative to a reproduction environment location, at which a sound is to be rendered;
• determining a sound source distance between the sound source location and the reproduction environment location;
• determining a near-field gain and a far-field gain based, at least in part, on the sound source distance;
• determining, if the far-field gain is non-zero, a room speaker feed signal for each of a plurality of room speakers within the reproduction environment, each speaker feed signal corresponding to at least one of the room speakers, each room speaker feed signal being based, at least in part, on a room speaker position, the sound source location and the far-field gain;
• determining a first position corresponding to a first set of near-field speakers located within the reproduction environment;
• determining, if the near-field gain is non-zero, first near-field speaker feed signals based at least in part on the near-field gain, the sound source location and the first position of the first set of near-field speakers;
• and
• providing the near-field speaker feed signals to the first set of near-field speakers, providing the room speaker feed signals to the room speakers, or providing both the near-field speaker feed signals to the first set of near-field speakers and the room speaker feed signals to the room speakers.