Relative distance estimation in multi-channel spatial audio signal

With the development of 3D audio, distance rendering in multi-channel spatial audio becomes a hot topic of great interest. In this paper, the directional-to-diffuse energy ratio (DDR), a novel relative distance cue, is presented based on Fast Independent Components Analysis (FastICA). DDR is used to trace the relative distance of recreated sound image, by extracting the energy ratio of the directional component and the diffuse component in multi-channel audio signal. Combined the human auditory perception, a mapping relationship is discussed between DDR and relative distance. According to the subjective comparison, the estimated relative distance could validly reveal the perceived relative distance.