Acoustical virtual environment
AssigneeWenger Corporation
InventorRonald R. Freiheit
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A rehearsal room especially adapted to produce the auralization effect of different acoustical environments. The rehearsal room broadly includes a performance space defined by a plurality of walls, each of the walls including a plurality of acoustical absorption panels, a floor and a ceiling, a plurality of microphones operably coupled to the ceiling at predetermined locations, a plurality of acoustical speakers operably coupled to the ceiling at predetermined locations relative to the position of the microphones and speakers; and an electroacoustic system connected to the microphones and speakers for recording, broadcasting and simulating sound.
Claims21
An acoustic virtual environment room comprising:
- a performance space having a plurality of walls, a floor and a ceiling, each of said walls presenting an inner surface, an outer surface, a wall lower margin and a wall upper margin, said walls including a plurality of acoustical absorption panels at said inner surface;
- a plurality of microphones operably coupled to said ceiling at predetermined locations;
- a plurality of acoustical speakers operably coupled to said ceiling at predetermined locations relative to the position of said microphones;
- and
- an electroacoustic system comprising a remote user input device and an acoustic control system, said electroacoustic system being operably coupled to said microphones and said speakers whereby sound performances in said performance space are enhanced to acoustically simulate a physical environment selected from a plurality of physical environments with different acoustical characteristics.
An acoustic virtual environment rehearsal room adapted for a performer to rehearse aural performances in a synthetic aural environment selected from one of a plurality of different synthetic aural environments simulating the aural characteristics of preselected different physical environments, comprising:
- a performance space defined by a plurality of walls, a floor, and a ceiling;
- acoustical absorption material oriented within said performance space so that said performance space has a semi-anechoic aural performance characteristic;
- at least one microphone positioned within said performance space to receive sound energy generated by said performer;
- an electroacoustic system operably coupled to said microphone, said electroacoustic system adapted for providing processed variant representations of said sound energy generated by said performer on at least two sound channels;
- and
- a plurality of acoustical speakers operably coupled to said electroacoustic system, with said at least two sound channels each having at least one speaker operably coupled therewith, said speakers being positioned within said performance space to rebroadcast said sound energy generated by said performer and processed by said electroacoustic system within said performance space,
- whereby said performer hears the sound generated by the performer within the performance space as if it were generated in one of said preselected physical environments.
A method of creating an acoustic virtual environment rehearsal room adapted for a performer to rehearse aural performances in a synthetic aural environment selected from one of a plurality of different synthetic aural environments simulating the aural characteristics of preselected different physical environments, comprising the steps of:
- providing a performance space defined by a plurality of walls, a floor, and a ceiling;
- orienting acoustical absorption material within said performance space so that said performance space has a semi-anechoic aural performance characteristic;
- positioning at least one microphone within said performance space to receive sound energy generated by said performer;
- operably coupling an electroacoustic system to said microphone, said electroacoustic system adapted for providing processed representations of said sound energy generated by said performer on at least two sound channels;
- and
- operably coupling a plurality of acoustical speakers to said electroacoustic system, with said at least two sound channels each having at least one speaker operably coupled therewith, said speakers being positioned within said performance space to rebroadcast said sound energy generated by said performer and processed by said electroacoustic system within said performance space, so that said performer hears the sound generated by the performer within the performance space as if it were generated in one of said preselected physical environments.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.