Systems and methods of spatial audio playback with enhanced immersiveness

1. A method of playing back audio content comprising:

receiving, at a playback device, audio input including vertical content having a high-frequency portion and a low-frequency portion, the playback device facing along a first sound axis, the playback device comprising:

an up-firing transducer configured to direct sound along a second sound axis that is vertically angled with respect to the first sound axis; and

a side-firing transducer or array configured to direct sound along a third axis that is horizontally angled with respect to the first sound axis;

playing back the low-frequency portion of the vertical content via the side-firing transducer or array; and

playing back both the high-frequency portion and the low-frequency portion of the vertical content via the up-firing transducer.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein, at a target listening location, a sound pressure level of the low-frequency portion played back via the side-firing transducer or array is at least 6 dB greater than a sound pressure level of the low-frequency portion played back via the up-firing transducer.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the target listening location is positioned along the first sound axis.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein playing back the vertical content via the up-firing transducer is delayed with respect to playing back the low-frequency portion of the vertical content via the side-firing transducer or array.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

playing back the vertical content via the up-firing transducer comprises reflecting the vertical content off an acoustically reflective surface and towards a target listening location; and

playing back the low-frequency portion of the vertical content via the side-firing transducer or array comprises reflecting the low-frequency portion of the vertical content off a second acoustically reflective surface and towards the target listening location.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

at least some of the low-frequency portion of the vertical content played back via the up-firing transducer propagates along a first direction parallel to the first sound axis towards a target listening location;

playing back the low-frequency portion of the vertical content via the side-firing transducer or array comprises reflecting the low-frequency portion off an acoustically reflective surface and towards the target listening location; and

playing back the vertical content via the up-firing transducer is delayed such that the low-frequency portion of the vertical content played back via the up-firing transducer and propagating along the first direction reaches the target listening location substantially simultaneously with the low-frequency portion of the vertical content played back via the side-firing transducer or array and reflected off the acoustically reflective surface.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the audio input comprises at least one of: 3D audio input, MPEG-H audio input, Dolby ATMOS audio input; or DTS:X audio input.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the low-frequency portion comprises signals having a frequency of less than about 2000 Hz.

9. A playback device configured to face along a first sound axis, the device comprising:

an up-firing transducer configured to direct sound along a second sound axis that is vertically angled with respect to the first sound axis of the playback device;

a side-firing transducer or array configured to direct sound along a third axis that is horizontally angled with respect to the first sound axis;

one or more processors; and

a tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the playback device to perform operations comprising:

receiving, at the playback device, audio input including vertical content having a high-frequency portion and a low-frequency portion;

playing back the low-frequency portion of the vertical content via the side-firing transducer or array; and

playing back both the high-frequency portion and the low-frequency portion of the vertical content via the up-firing transducer.

10. The playback device of claim 9 , wherein the device is configured such that, at a target listening location, a sound pressure level of the low-frequency portion played back via the side-firing transducer or array is at least 6 dB greater than a sound pressure level of the low-frequency portion played back via the up-firing transducer.

11. The playback device of claim 10 , wherein the target listening location is positioned along first sound axis.

12. The playback device of claim 9 , wherein playing back the vertical content via the up-firing transducer is delayed with respect to playing back the low-frequency portion of the vertical content via the side-firing transducer or array.

13. The playback device of claim 9 , wherein the device is configured such that at least some of the low-frequency portion of the vertical content played back via the up-firing transducer propagates along a first direction parallel to the first sound axis towards a target listening location,

wherein playing back the low-frequency portion of the vertical content via the side-firing transducer or array comprises reflecting the low-frequency portion off an acoustically reflective surface and towards the target listening location, and

wherein playing back the vertical content via the up-firing transducer is delayed such that the low-frequency portion of the vertical content played back via the up-firing transducer and propagating along the first direction reaches the target listening location substantially simultaneously with the low-frequency portion of the vertical content played back via the side-firing transducer or array and reflected off the acoustically reflective surface.

14. The playback device of claim 9 , wherein the audio input comprises at least one of: 3D audio input, MPEG-H audio input, Dolby ATMOS audio input; or DTS:X audio input.

15. The playback device of claim 9 , wherein the low-frequency portion comprises signals having a frequency of less than about 2000 Hz.

16. A tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a playback device, cause the playback device to perform operations comprising:

receiving, at the playback device, audio input including vertical content having a high-frequency portion and a low-frequency portion, the playback device facing along a first sound axis, the playback device comprising:

an up-firing transducer configured to direct sound along a second sound axis that is vertically angled with respect to the first sound axis; and

a side-firing transducer or array configured to direct sound along a third axis that is horizontally angled with respect to the first sound axis;

playing back the low-frequency portion of the vertical content via a side-firing transducer or array of the playback device; and

playing back both the high-frequency portion and the low-frequency portion of the vertical content via an up-firing transducer of the playback device.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 16 , wherein playing back the vertical content via the up-firing transducer is delayed with respect to playing back the low-frequency portion of the vertical content via the side-firing transducer or array.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 16 , wherein:

at least some of the low-frequency portion of the vertical content played back via the up-firing transducer propagates along a first direction parallel to the first sound axis towards a target listening location;

playing back the low-frequency portion of the vertical content via the side-firing transducer or array comprises reflecting the low-frequency portion off an acoustically reflective surface and towards the target listening location; and

playing back the vertical content via the up-firing transducer is delayed such that the low-frequency portion of the vertical content played back via the up-firing transducer and propagating along the first direction reaches the target listening location substantially simultaneously with the low-frequency portion of the vertical content played back via the side-firing transducer or array and reflected off the acoustically reflective surface.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the audio input comprises at least one of: 3D audio input, MPEG-H audio input, Dolby ATMOS audio input; or DTS:X audio input.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the low-frequency portion comprises signals having a frequency of less than about 2000 Hz.