This is an example of usege of Iceberg auralization method.

Dependent on the following toolboxes:

https://git.rwth-aachen.de/ita/toolbox
https://github.com/polarch/Higher-Order-Ambisonics
https://github.com/polarch/Spherical-Harmonic-Transform/tree/master
https://github.com/polarch/Vector-Base-Amplitude-Panning
VADSOHN

5.2 Iceberg an Hybrid Auralization Method

The Iceberg auralization method combines two well-known methods: VBAP and Ambisonics. In Chapter 3, VBAP and Ambisonics binaural cues were objectively evaluated. The VBAP method was found to render accurate cuesin the center position, even with a second listener inside the array. That corroborates the use of VBAP to increase tests’ ecological validity in auditorytests [134]. On the other hand, Ambisonics delivered less precise localization cues, imposing more restrictions on the listener’s position. The results are in line with literature presenting poor localization but high immersiveness from low-order Ambisonics [104, 105] and, conversely, lesser immersiveness and greater localization accuracy from VBAP [89, 104]. Therefore, the idea here is to provide an auralization that contains temporal and spectral features of the sounds encoded through VBAP while the spaciousness provided through the reverberation envelope is encoded through Ambisonics. This specific combination of auralization methods has also been considered to decrease the number of necessary loudspeakers for a setup that requires regular hearing devices. At the same time, the setup may allow some degree of head movement without the need for tracking equipment. That is a counter measure to overcome common limitations in ordinary auditory test spaces [316].

[89] Gandemer, L., Parseihian, G., Bourdin, C., and Kronland-Martinet, R.(2018). Perception of Surrounding Sound Source Trajectories in the Horizontal Plane: A Comparison of VBAP and Basic-Decoded HOA. Acta Acustica united with Acustica, pages 338–350.

[104] Guastavino, C. and Katz, B. F. G. (2004). Perceptual evaluation of multi-dimensional spatial audio reproduction. The Journal of the AcousticalSociety of America, 116:1105–1115.

[105] Guastavino, C., Larcher, V., Catusseau, G., and Boussard, P. (2007).Spatial audio quality evaluation: comparing transaural, ambisonics and stereo. In Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Auditory Display. Montreal Canada. Georgia Institute of Technology.

[134] Keidser, G., Naylor, G., Brungart, D. S., Caduff, A., Campos, J., Carlile,S., Carpenter, M. G., Grimm, G., Hohmann, V., Holube, I., Launer, S.,Lunner, T., Mehra, R., Rapport, F., Slaney, M., and Smeds, K. (2020). The quest for ecological validity in hearing science: what it is, why it matters,and how to advance it. Ear and Hearing, 41(S1):5S–19S.

[316] Zapata Rodriguez, V., Jeong, C.-H., Hoffmann, I., Cho, W.-H., Beldam,M.-B., and Harte, J. (2019). Acoustic conditions of clinic rooms for soundfield audiometry. In Proceedings of 23rd International Congress on Acoustics, pages 4654–59. Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Akustik. 23rd International Congress on Acoustics , ICA 2019 ; Conference date: 09-09-2019 Through 13-09-2019.