Constant Directivity Loudspeaker Beamforming

TL;DR

This paper introduces new beamforming methods for loudspeaker arrays that handle heterogeneity in transducer characteristics, optimizing for efficiency and sensitivity while maintaining constant directivity across frequencies.

Contribution

It proposes a frequency-regularization approach and two novel beamformer designs, MECD and MSCD, with analytic solutions for heterogeneous loudspeaker arrays.

Findings

Optimized beamformers for full-band arrays with heterogeneity

Analytic solutions for quadratic constrained quadratic programs

Enhanced directivity control with improved efficiency and sensitivity

Abstract

Loudspeaker array beamforming is a common signal processing technique for acoustic directivity control and robust audio reproduction. Unlike their microphone counterpart, loudspeaker constraints are often heterogeneous due to arrayed transducers with varying operating ranges in frequency, acoustic-electrical sensitivity, efficiency, and directivity. This work proposes a frequency-regularization method for generalized Rayleigh quotient directivity specifications and two novel beamformer designs that optimize for maximum efficiency constant directivity (MECD) and maximum sensitivity constant directivity (MSCD). We derive fast converging and analytic solutions from their quadratic equality constrained quadratic program formulations. Experiments optimize generalized directivity index constrained beamformer designs for a full-band heterogeneous array.