Paraspax is a method for parametric spatial audio with six degrees of freedom (DoF) based on one monaural room impulse response (RIR). The MATLAB-based implementation provides functions for spatial encoding of a monaural RIR and the parametric synthesis of binaural room impulse responses (BRIRs) for any desired listener's head-orientation or position in the room.
The encoding is based on three basic processing steps. The parametrization provides standard monaural room acoustic parameters as well as the times-of-arrival (TOAs) of direct sound and early reflections using a reflection detection algorithm. The spatialization assigns directions-of-arrival (DOAs) to the direct sound and the selected early reflections, based on a pseudo-randomized directional distribution, a simple image source model (ISM), or predetermined DOAs. The optional extrapolation allows listener translations to any position in space by adjusting amplitude, DOA, and TOA of direct sound and early reflections as well as the magnitude spectrum of the direct sound according to the sound source directivity. The parametric description can then either be passed to a real-time rendering engine or used to synthesize BRIRs with the provided BRIR synthesis algorithm.
The synthesized BRIRs can be employed for a 6-DoF real-time virtual acoustic environment (VAE), which can be used, for example, for demo applications or perceptual studies on AR audio. The Paraspax toolbox provides a Matlab- and Python-based framework to implement such a 6-DoF VAE.
For more details, please see:
Arend, J. M., Amengual Garí, S. V., Schissler, C., Klein, F., & Robinson, P. W. (2021). Six-Degrees-of-Freedom Parametric Spatial Audio Based on One Monaural Room Impulse Response. J. Audio Eng. Soc., 69(7/8), 557–575. https://doi.org/10.17743/jaes.2021.0009
@article{Arend2021c,
author = {Arend, Johannes M. and {Amengual Gar{\'{i}}}, Sebasti{\`{a}} V. and Schissler, Carl and Klein, Florian and Robinson, Philip W.},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.17743/jaes.2021.0009},
journal = {J. Audio Eng. Soc.},
number = {7/8},
pages = {557--575},
title = {{Six-Degrees-of-Freedom Parametric Spatial Audio Based on One Monaural Room Impulse Response}},
volume = {69},
year = {2021}
}
The Paraspax toolbox was implemented in MATLAB R2020a and requires the Signal Processing Toolbox. Older versions of MATLAB may also work. The following third-party toolboxes are required:
The 6-DoF framework furthermore requires:
- PyBinSim ('filter_split' branch)
- OSCsend
- OptiTrack NatNet SDK
Run demo.m or demo_SDM.m in the Paraspax_Implementation folder. This will temporarily add the required folders to the Matlab search path (also the requirements if stored in Paraspax_Implementation/ThirdParty/). The demo leads through the encoding and BRIR synthesis.
A demo application of the 6-DoF VAE can be found in Paraspax_6DoF_Framework/Demo/
Paraspax is CC-BY-4.0 licensed, as found in the LICENSE file.