Differential spatial rendering of audio sources
Methods and systems for intuitive spatial audio rendering with improved intelligibility are disclosed. By establishing a virtual association between an audio source and a location in the listener's virtual audio space, a spatial audio rendering system can generate spatial audio signals that create a natural and immersive audio field for a listener. The system can receive the virtual location of the source as a parameter and map the source audio signal to a source-specific multi-channel audio signal. In addition, the spatial audio rendering system can be interactive and dynamically modify the rendering of the spatial audio in response to a user's active control or tracked movement.
1. A computer-implemented method of rendering sources for telecommunication, the method comprising: for each destination device of a plurality of destination devices, each destination device having a virtual space:
receiving a plurality of audio signals from a plurality of sources associated with a plurality of network devices;
generating an association between each source in the plurality of sources and a virtual location in the destination device's virtual space;
rendering the audio signal from each source, wherein the rendering takes the virtual location of the source in the destination device's virtual space as a parameter and maps the audio signal from the source to a source-specific multi-channel audio signal according to the parameter;
mixing the source-specific multi-channel audio signal from each source into a multi-channel audio mix for the destination device; and
sending the multi-channel audio mix to the destination device.
2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein a first source from the plurality of sources is associated with a first virtual location in a first destination device's virtual space; and
wherein the first source from the plurality of sources is associated with a second virtual location in a second destination device's virtual space, and the first virtual location differs from the second virtual location.
3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising a first destination device with a user interface, wherein the user interface allows a user to select a first source in the plurality of sources and a first virtual location in a first destination device's virtual space to express a location control indication;
wherein the first destination device sends a location control request to a processor indicating the first source in the plurality of sources and the first virtual location in the device's virtual space; and
wherein the processor modifies the association of the virtual location of the first source for the first destination device according to the location control indication.
4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving location data of each source in the destination device's virtual space from one or more sensors.
5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the rendering to a source-specific multi-channel audio signal includes one or more auditory cues regarding the location of the source in the destination device's virtual space.
6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
computing a first delay for a first channel of the source-specific multi-channel audio signal according to the virtual location of the source; and
computing a second delay for a second channel the source-specific multi-channel audio signal according to the virtual location of the source.
7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
computing a first loudness for a first channel of the source-specific multi-channel audio signal according to the virtual location of the source; and
computing a second loudness for a second channel of the source-specific multi-channel audio signal according to the virtual location of the source.
8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising creating a distance cue by:
computing a first reverb signal of the source; and
computing a mix of the first reverb signal of the source and a direct signal of the source according to the virtual location of the source.
9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a user's control over the virtual location of the source in the destination device's virtual space; and
adjusting the rendering of the source based on the user's control.
10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a change signal for the association between each source in the plurality of sources and the virtual location in the destination device's virtual space; and
adjusting the rendering of the source based on the change signal.
11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
generating one or more visual cues in association with the source location, the one or more visual cues being consistent with one or more auditory cues.
12. A computer-implemented method of rendering a source for each destination of a plurality of destinations for telecommunication, each destination having a virtual space, the method comprising:
receiving a first input audio signal from the source associated with a network device;
generating an association between the source and a virtual location in the destination's virtual space, the virtual location differing from the virtual location of the same source in the space of a different destination;
rendering the first input audio signal from the source according to the virtual location of the source in the destination's virtual space to produce a first multi-channel audio signal; and
sending an output signal comprising the first multi-channel audio signal to the destination.
13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12 , further comprising:
computing a first delay for a first channel of the first multi-channel audio signal according to the virtual location of the source; and
computing a second delay for a second channel of the first multi-channel audio signal according to the virtual location of the source.
14. The computer-implemented method of claim 12 , further comprising:
computing a first loudness for a first channel of the first multi-channel audio signal according to the virtual location of the source; and
computing a second loudness for a second channel of the first multi-channel audio signal according to the virtual location of the source.
15. The computer-implemented method of claim 12 , further comprising creating a distance cue by:
computing a first reverb signal of the source; and
computing a mix of the first reverb signal of the source and a direct signal of the source according to the virtual location of the source.
16. The computer-implemented method of claim 12 , further comprising creating a three-dimensional cue by:
computing a first Head-Related Transfer Function for a first channel of the first multi-channel audio signal according to the virtual location of the source; and
computing a second Head-Related Transfer Function for a second channel of the first multi-channel audio signal according to the virtual location of the source.
17. The computer-implemented method of claim 12 , further comprising:
receiving a second input audio signal from a second source;
generating an association between the second source and a second virtual location in the destination's virtual space;
rendering the second input audio signal from the second source according to the second virtual location of the second source in the destination's virtual space to produce a second multi-channel audio signal; and
mixing the first multi-channel audio signal and the second multi-channel audio signal to create the output signal.
18. The computer-implemented method of claim 12 , further comprising:
receiving a user's control for the association between the source and the virtual location in the destination's virtual space.
19. The computer-implemented method of claim 18 , further comprising:
receiving a change signal; and
changing the association according to the change signal.
20. A computer-implemented method for telecommunication, comprising:
receiving an identification of a source in a plurality of sources associated with a plurality of network devices, each source being associated with an audio signal from a network device;
receiving an identification of a virtual location in a virtual space;
sending a location control message to a server to request that the audio signal associated with the source be rendered in the virtual location in the virtual space; and
receiving audio from the server, the audio being rendered according to the identification of the virtual location.
21. The computer-implemented method of claim 20 , wherein the virtual location is based on spatial data indicating a virtual audio source's location within a destination device's virtual space.
22. The computer-implemented method of claim 20 , wherein the location control message comprises spatial data collected by one or more sensors.