| Description |
The SARA project is an academic research project with goals to gain deeper understanding on spatial sound and
to develop theory and algorithms for modeling and control of room acoustics. The research problems tackled in
the SARA project can be divided into three areas: room acoustics, digital signal processing, and psychoacoustics.
A wave-based room acoustic modeling technique, the 3-D digital waveguide mesh, was developed at HUT in 1994.
We are now continuing this work by improving and extending the previously introduced digital waveguide mesh
algorithms. A 3-D sound reproduction system, called vector-base amplitude panning (VBAP) has also been
developed earlier at HUT. The method has gained considerable publicity, and it is utilized in a wide area
ranging from military applications to artistic installations. In earlier studies the directional quality
generated with VBAP has been studied with listening tests and simulations of directional hearing. In the
future, we will study also quality issues on other reproduction techniques, and on virtual room acoustics
auralization. Spatial audio quality will be studied using more attributes than before, such as coloration,
spatiousness and envelopment. Listening tests will be conducted, and auditory models will be developed.
One more research area in the SARA project is the design of digital filters from measured room impulse
responses. Such digital filters can be utilized in artificial reproduction of the acoustics of an
existing concert hall or in the active control of the sound reproduction in a listening room.
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