Audio reproduction apparatus

An audio reproduction apparatus comprising:

• a digital signal source for supplying digital audio signals in a plurality of channels;
• audio reproducing means disposed in the vicinity of the ears of a listener for converting digital audio signals from said digital signal source into analog audio signals with digital/analog converting means and for reproducing the signals;
• angle detecting means for detecting a movement of the head of the listener through each of a plurality of predetermined angles with respect to a reference direction;
• address signal converting means for converting an angle detected by said angle detecting means into a digital address signal;
• first storage means for storing impulse responses measured from virtual sound source positions to the ears of the listener which are fixed with respect to a reference direction of the head of the listener;
• integrating means for performing convolutional integration on the digital audio signals in the respective channels from said digital signal source and the impulse responses stored by said first storage means;
• second storage means for storing control signals representative of measured time differences and level differences of the audio signals from the virtual sound source positions to the ears of the listener with respect to the reference direction of the head of the listener through each angle which can be recognized by the listener;
• and
• control means for correcting the digital audio signals in the respective channels which have been convolved with the impulse responses by said integrating means using the control signals stored by said second storage means and for supplying the corrected digital audio signals to said audio reproducing means;
• the arrangement being such that said second storage means is addressed by the digital address signal produced by said address signal converting means to provide the control signals stored by said second storage means to the control means to correct the digital audio signals which have been convolved with the impulse responses by said integrating means to thereby correct the digital audio signals in the respective channels with respect to the movement of the head of the listener on a real-time basis.

An audio reproduction apparatus comprising:

• a digital signal source for supplying digital audio signals in a plurality of channels;
• audio reproducing means disposed in the vicinity of the ears of a listener for converting digital audio signals from said digital signal source into analog audio signals with digital/analog converting means and for reproducing the signals;
• angle detecting means for detecting a movement of the head of the listener through each of a plurality of predetermined angles with respect to a reference direction;
• address signal converting means for converting an angle detected by said angle detecting means into a digital address signal;
• first storage means for storing impulse responses measured from virtual sound source positions to the ears of a listener that are fixed with respect to a reference direction of the head of the listener;
• integrating means for performing convolutional integration on the digital audio signals in the respective channels from said digital signal source and the impulse responses stored by said first storage means;
• second storage means for storing control signals representative of measured time differences and level differences of the audio signals from the virtual sound source positions to the ears of a plurality of listeners with respect to the direction of the heads of the plurality of listeners through each angle which can be recognized by the listeners;
• a plurality of control means for correcting the digital audio signals using the control signals stored by said second storage means and for supplying the corrected digital audio signals to said audio reproducing means;
• and
• a plurality of adding means for adding the digital audio signals in the respective channels which have been convolved with the impulse responses by said integrating means as right and left digital audio signals in respective two channels;
• the arrangement being such that said second storage means is addressed by the digital address signal produced by said address signal converting means to provide the control signals stored by said second storage means to the control means to correct the digital audio signals which have been convolved with the impulse responses by said integrating means and the corrected digital audio signals are added as right and left digital audio signals in respective two channels by said plurality of adding means to thereby correct the right and left digital audio signals in respective two channels with respect to the movement of the head of each of the listeners on a real-time basis.

An audio reproduction apparatus comprising:

• a digital signal source for supplying digital audio signals in a plurality of channels;
• audio reproducing means disposed in the vicinity of the ears of a listener for converting digital audio signals from said digital signal source into analog signals with digital/analog converting means and for reproducing the signals;
• angle detecting means for detecting a movement of the head of the listener through each of a plurality of predetermined angles with respect to a reference direction;
• address signal converting means for converting an angle detected by said angle detecting means into a digital address signal;
• first storage means for storing impulse responses measured from virtual sound source positions to the ears of the listener that are fixed with respect to a direction of the head of the listener;
• integrating means for performing convolutional integration on the digital audio signals in the respective channels from said digital signal source and the impulse responses stored by said first storage means;
• adding means for adding the digital audio signals in the respective channels which have been subjected with the impulse responses to convolutional integration by said integrating means, as right and left digital audio signals in respective two channels;
• second storage means for storing control signals representative of measured time differences and level differences of the audio signals from the virtual sound source positions to the ears of a plurality of listeners with respect to the reference direction of the heads of the plurality of listeners through each angle which can be recognized by the listeners;
• and
• a plurality of control means for correcting the right and left digital audio signals in respective two channels which have been added by said adding means using the control signals stored by said second storage means and for supplying the corrected digital audio signals to said audio reproducing means;
• the arrangement being such that said second storage means is addressed by the digital address signal produced by said address signal converting means to provide the control signals stored by said second storage means to the control means to correct the right and left digital audio signals in respective two channels which have been added by said adding means to thereby correct the right and left digital audio signals in respective two channels with respect to the movement of the head of each of the listeners on a real-time basis.

An audio reproduction apparatus comprising:

• a signal source for supplying audio signals in a plurality of channels;
• storage means for storing impulse responses measured from virtual sound source positions with respect to a reference direction of the head of a listener to the ears of the listener depending on a movement of the head of the listener, or control signals representative of measured time differences and level differences of the audio signals from the virtual sound source positions with respect to the reference direction of the head of the listener to the ears of the listener through each angle which can be recognized by the listener;
• angle detecting means for detecting a movement of the head of the listener with respect to the reference direction through each predetermined angle;
• address signal converting means for converting an angle detected by said angle detecting means into an address signal;
• control means for correcting the audio signals in the respective channels from said signal source based on the impulse responses or control signals stored by said storage means;
• audio reproducing means for reproducing the audio signals corrected by said control means;
• and
• setting means disposed as at least a stage subsequent to said control means, for setting playback characteristics at the time the corrected audio signals are reproduced by said audio reproducing means;
• the arrangement being such that said storage means is addressed by the address signal produced by said address signal converting means to read the impulse responses or control signals stored by said storage means to correct the audio signals with the impulse responses or control signals in said control means, and the corrected audio signals are reproduced with the playback characteristics set by said setting means and are corrected with respect to the movement of the head of the listener on a real-time basis.

An audio reproduction apparatus comprising:

• a signal source for supplying audio signals in a plurality of channels;
• first radio means for transmitting said audio signals as radio signals and for receiving an audio processing control signal;
• storage means for storing impulse responses measured from virtual sound source positions to the ears of a listener with respect to a reference direction of the head of the listener, or control signals representative of measured time differences and level differences of the audio signals from the virtual sound source positions to the ears of the listener with respect to the reference direction of the head of the listener through each of a plurality of predetermined angles which can be recognized by the listener;
• angle detecting means for detecting a movement of the head of the listener with respect to the reference direction through each predetermined angle;
• address signal converting means for converting an angle detected by said angle detecting means into an address signal;
• second radio means for receiving the audio signals from said first radio means and for transmitting the audio processing control signal;
• control means for correcting the audio signals in the respective channels received by said second radio means based on the impulse responses or control signals stored by said storage means;
• and
• audio reproducing means for reproducing the audio signals corrected by said storage means;
• the arrangement being such that said storage means is addressed by the address signal produced by said address signal converting means to provide the impulse responses or control signals stored by said storage means to the control means to correct the audio signals with the impulse responses or control signals and the audio signals are corrected with respect to the movement of the head of the listener on a real-time basis by way of hi-directional wireless communication.

An audio reproduction apparatus comprising:

• a digital signal source for supplying digital audio signals in a plurality of channels;
• first storage means for storing impulse responses measured from virtual sound source positions to the ears of a listener that are fixed with respect to a reference direction of the head of the listener;
• integrating means for performing convolutional integration on the digital audio signals in the respective channels from said digital signal source and the impulse responses stored by said first storage means;
• adding means for adding the digital audio signals in the respective channels which have been convolved with the impulse responses by said integrating means as right and left digital audio signals in respective two channels;
• transmitting means for transmitting as radio signals the right and left digital audio signals in respective two channels which have been added by said adding means;
• receiving means for receiving the digital audio signals in respective two channels which are transmitted by said transmitting means;
• audio reproducing means disposed in the vicinity of the ears of the listener for converting digital audio signals from said digital signal source into analog audio signals with digital/analog converting means and for reproducing the signals;
• angle detecting means for detecting a movement of the head of the listener with respect to the reference direction through each predetermined angle;
• address signal converting means for converting an angle detected by said angle detecting means into a digital address signal;
• second storage means for storing control signals representative of measured time differences and level differences of the audio signals from the virtual sound source positions to the ears of the listener with respect to the reference direction of the head of the listener through each angle which can be recognized by the listener;
• and
• control means for correcting the digital audio signals in respective two channels which are received by said receiving means using the control signals stored by said second storage means and for supplying the corrected digital audio signals to said audio reproducing means;
• the arrangement being such that said second storage means is addressed by the digital address signal produced by said address signal converting means to provide the control signals stored by said second storage means to said control means for correcting the digital audio signals in respective two channels with respect to the movement of the head of the listener on a real-time basis by way of wireless communication.

An audio reproduction apparatus comprising:

• a digital signal source for supplying digital audio signals in a plurality of channels;
• first storage means for storing impulse responses measured from virtual sound source positions to the ears of a listener that are fixed with respect to a reference direction of the head of the listener;
• integrating means for performing convolutional integration on the digital audio signals in the respective channels from said digital signal source and the impulse responses stored by said first storage means;
• adding means for adding the digital audio signals in the respective channels which have been convolved with the impulse responses by said integrating means as right and left digital audio signals in respective two channels;
• first radio means having a first receiving device and a first transmitting device for transmitting as radio signals the right and left digital audio signals in respective two channels which have been added by said adding means;
• second radio means having a second receiving device for receiving the digital audio signals in respective two channels which are transmitted by said first transmitting device of said first radio means and a second transmitting device for transmitting a signal processing control signal to said first receiving device;
• audio reproducing means disposed in the vicinity of the ears of the listener, for converting digital audio signals from said digital signal source into analog audio signals with digital/analog converting means and for reproducing the signals;
• angle detecting means for detecting a movement of the head of the listener through each of a plurality of predetermined angles with respect to a reference direction;
• address signal converting means for converting an angle detected by said angle detecting means into a digital address signal;
• second storage means for storing control signals representative of measured time differences and level differences of the audio signals from the virtual sound source positions to the ears of the listener with respect to the reference direction of the head of listener through each angle which can be recognized by the listener;
• and
• control means for correcting the digital audio signals in respective two channels which are received by the receiving device of said second radio means using the control signals stored by said second storage means and for supplying the corrected digital audio signals to said audio reproducing means;
• the arrangement being such that said second storage means is addressed by the digital address signal produced by said address signal converting means to provide the control signals stored by said second storage means to said control means and a signal processing control signal is transmitted from the transmitting device of said first radio means to the receiving device of said second radio means to vary the signal processing of the digital audio signals in respective two channels which are transmitted by the transmitting device of said first radio means, to thereby correct the digital audio signals in respective two channels with respect to the movement of the head of the listener on a real-time basis by way of bi-directional wireless communication.

An audio reproduction apparatus comprising:

• a signal source for supplying audio signals in a plurality of channels;
• storage means for storing impulse responses measured from virtual sound source positions with respect to a reference direction of the head of a listener to the ears of the listener depending on a movement of the head of the listener, or control signals representative of measured time differences and level differences of the audio signals from the virtual sound source positions with respect to the reference direction of the head of the listener to the ears of the listener through each angle which can be recognized by the listener;
• one or plural angle detecting means for detecting a movement of the head of the listener or the heads of plural listeners with respect to the reference direction through each predetermined angle;
• address signal converting means for converting an angle detected by said angle detecting means into an address signal;
• control means for correcting the audio signals in the respective channels from said signal source based on the impulse responses or control signals stored by said storage means;
• and
• audio reproducing means disposed in the vicinity of the head of the listener or each of the listeners and directed to the head, for reproducing the audio signals corrected by said control means;
• the arrangement being such that said storage means is addressed by the address signal produced by said address signal converting means based on a signal depending on the angle from said angle detecting means to read the impulse responses or control signals stored by said storage means to correct the audio signals with the impulse responses or control signals in said control means, the audio signals are corrected with respect to the movement of the head of the listener or each of the listeners on a real-time basis, and the corrected audio signals are reproduced by said audio reproducing means.

An audio reproduction apparatus comprising:

• a signal source for supplying audio signals in a plurality of channels;
• channel number converting means for converting the number of channels into another number of channel different from said number of channels depending on the number of channels for the audio signals;
• storage means for storing impulse responses measured from virtual sound source positions with respect to a reference direction of the head of a listener to the ears of the listener depending on a movement of the head of the listener, or control signals representative of measured time differences and level differences of the audio signals from the virtual sound source positions with respect to the reference direction of the head of the listener to the ears of the listener through each angle which can be recognized by the listener;
• one or plural angle detecting means for detecting a movement of the head of the listener or the heads of plural listeners with respect to the reference direction through each predetermined angle;
• address signal converting means for converting an angle detected by said angle detecting means into an address signal;
• control means for correcting the audio signals in the respective channels from said signal source based on the impulse responses or control signals stored by said storage means;
• and
• audio reproducing means mountable on the head of the listener or each of the listeners for reproducing the audio signals corrected by said control means;
• the arrangement being such that said storage means is addressed by the address signal produced by said address signal converting means based on a signal depending on the angle from said angle detecting means to read the impulse responses or control signals stored by said storage means to correct the audio signals in the other number of channel different from said number of channels which has been converted by said channel number converting means, with the impulse responses or control signals in said control means, the audio signals are corrected with respect to the movement of the head of the listener or each of the listeners on a real-time basis, and the corrected audio signals are reproduced by said audio reproducing means.