ABSTRACT
Height channels can help create and improve the immersive listening experience. To take full advantage of the systems discussed in this chapter, height sound must be used with careful attention to acoustic and electroacoustic principles as artistic creativity. It introduces loudspeaker configurations, microphone techniques, and the perceptual characteristics that are associated with height channels. Because an acoustic space alters the timbral and spatial characteristics of an original sound, architectural acousticians have long endeavored to construct a space within which a performed sound field can satisfy listeners. The chapter focuses on the discrete channel-based systems. Discrete channel-based methods for height sound reproduction face the challenge of how and where to install the height loudspeakers. In order to overcome this challenge, researchers proposed a series of methods that can reconstruct the height information, as originally intended by the sound designer or producer, for virtually any loudspeaker configuration. The chapter presents fundamental psychoacoustic concepts that relate to the perception of elevated sound sources.
