Implementation of Directional Sources Inwave Field Synthesis

Wave field synthesis (WFS) is a spatial audio reproduction technique aiming at physically synthesizing a desired sound field. Typically, virtual sound sources are rendered as emitting spherical or plane waves. In this paper we present an approach to the implementation of sources with arbitrary directivity. The approach is based on the description of the directional properties of a source by a set of circular harmonics. A time domain expression of the loudspeaker driving signals is derived allowing an efficient implementation. Consequences of sampling and truncation of the secondary source distribution as occurring in typical installations of WFS systems are discussed and simulated reproduction results are shown.