For some animals the most important of the five senses is hearing. For nocturnal animals hearing must surely play a large role in their lives. They depend on it to warn them of predators or to stalk prey. This thesis is concerned with the Ambisonic sound system. This is a sound system that has the potential to localize a sound anywhere, although this thesis is only concerned with sounds in a 360° horizontal plane.
Sound reproduction, via artificial means, has been around for over
a century. Alexander Graham Bell's telephone and Thomas Edison's
phonograph are two examples. Music boxes and player pianos have been
around for even longer. The concern in this thesis is in developing,
describing and predicting the Ambisonic system and its responses. How
well does it work? How does it work? How does it compare to current
systems? These and other questions will be discussed in this thesis.
Before the analysis of the Ambisonic system, a review of the stereo and
Dolby Surround Sound systems
will be
discussed.
