Loudspeaker localization using B-format recordings

Positions of loudspeakers with respect to the listener play an important role in loudspeaker reproduction. When the listener is outside the sweet spot, one of the loudspeakers becomes dominant, decreasing the reproduction fidelity. Compensation of the time and level differences between the loudspeakers is possible if the positions of the loudspeakers can be detected automatically. The paper proposes a method to determine the loudspeaker positions with respect to the listener using B-format recordings captured at the position of the listener. Loudspeaker localization is based on calculating impulse responses using the original played sounds and altering the pointing direction of the cardioids generated from B-format recordings. The analysis provides very accurate distance estimation and direction estimation with an error of 12° on average.