An approach to global noise control by wave field synthesis

Current approaches for active noise control in large listening spaces require a high number of sensors to control the sound field within a given volume. This contribution presents a new approach based on the theory of acoustic wave propagation. It exploits the fact, that a distribution of sources and sensors on the boundary of the listening space is sufficient for global control of the enclosed field. This principle has already been successfully exploited for spatial audio reproduction and is now applied to active noise control. Theoretical considerations, simulations, and measurements with a wave field synthesis array show that this approach is capable of considerable noise reduction in low-reverberant enclosures. Extensions to listening spaces with higher reverberation times are straightforward but require an increased number of output channels.