We present a system for simulating and validating spatial audio processing strategies in immersive listening environments using ambisonic recordings and off-the-shelf VR playback tools. Recordings are captured with a 64-channel Eigenmike, and then arbitrary signal processing, such as beamforming, distance-selective filtering, source separation, spatial redirection, or simulated reverberation, is applied to it. The processed signals are re-encodedinto the ambisonic format, allowing playback via standard ambisonic-compatible VR applications or binaural renderers. This approach enables the creation of immersive audio scenes in which different processing strategies can be directly experienced and compared by listeners, either passively or in interactive test environments. A key advantage of the system is that it allows testing novel forms of processing in a realistic virtual environment that would be difficult or impractical to implement in real time. This system enables reproducible, real-space manipulation of immersive acoustic scenes, providing a testbed for future perceptual experiments involving listener intent, spatial hearing, and assistive audio processing.
Xu et al. (Wed,) studied this question.