Sound field reproduction applicable to noise control engineering

We have conducted examinations about multi-channel sound field reproducing systems using the boundary surface control principle and its simplified versions. In the process of practical development, it is often attempted to evaluate the performance using a demonstration and experiments based on subjective evaluations. In the demonstrations, musical sound recorded in concert halls and the traditional arts-rich sound is often preferred. However, contents such as the road traffic noise or the jet noise showed a high sense of reality and got a good evaluation. These facts suggested that the sound field reproduction is not only reproducing artistic sound field but can be a good simulator of noise field. We currently assume four hypotheses for the higher total performance of the reproducing system; (A) physically assured reproduction; (B) the robustness for external disturbance such as the existence of listener; (C) a space to accept additional direction; (D) a capability to integrate with visual information. For example, the possibility of additional direction (C), would be useful in the simulations of the noise environment. Several examinations about a sense of reality and proposal of noise simulator are shown.