arXiv subjects

Matteo Scerbo

Publications and source records attributed to Matteo Scerbo.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

A state-space representation of the boundary integral equation for room acoustic modelling

We introduce a new framework for room acoustics modelling based on a state-space model of the boundary integral equation representing the sound field in a room. Whereas state-space models of linear time-invariant systems are traditionally constructed by means of a state vector and a 4-tuple of system matrices, the state-space representation introduced in this work consists of a state function representing the pressure distribution at the room boundary, and a 4-tuple of integral operators. We refer to this representation as a boundary integral operator state-space (BIOSS) model and provide a physical interpretation for each of the integral operators. As many mathematical operations on vectors and matrices translate to functions and operators, the BIOSS representation can be manipulated to obtain two transfer function representations, having either a feedback or a parallel feedforward structure. Consequently, various equivalent representations for room acoustics are obtained in the BIOSS framework, in the time or frequency domain, and in continuous or discrete space. We discuss two future directions for how the proposed framework can be fertile for research on room acoustics modelling. Firstly, we identify equivalences between the BIOSS framework and various existing room acoustics models (boundary element models, delay networks, geometric models), which may be used to establish relations between existing models and to develop novel room acoustics models. Secondly, we postulate on how concepts from state-space theory, such as observability, controllability, and state realization, can be used for developing new inference and control methods for room acoustics.

eess.AS↗

arXiv2025

Differentiable Acoustic Radiance Transfer

Geometric acoustics is an efficient framework for room acoustics modeling, governed by the canonical time-dependent rendering equation. Acoustic radiance transfer (ART) solves the equation by discretization, modeling time- and direction-dependent energy exchange between surface patches with flexible material properties. We introduce DART, an efficient, differentiable implementation of ART that enables gradient-based optimization of material properties. We evaluate DART on a simpler variant of acoustic field learning that aims to predict energy responses for novel source-receiver configurations. Experimental results demonstrate that DART generalizes better under sparse measurement scenarios than existing signal processing and neural network baselines, while maintaining simplicity and full interpretability. We open-source our implementation.

cs.SD↗

arXiv2024

Modeling nonuniform energy decay through the modal decomposition of acoustic radiance transfer (MoD-ART)

Modeling late reverberation in real-time interactive applications is a challenging task when multiple sound sources and listeners are present in the same environment. This is especially problematic when the environment is geometrically complex and/or features uneven energy absorption (e.g. coupled volumes), because in such cases the late reverberation is dependent on the sound sources' and listeners' positions, and therefore must be adapted to their movements in real time. We present a novel approach to the task, named modal decomposition of acoustic radiance transfer (MoD-ART), which can handle highly complex scenarios with efficiency. The approach is based on the geometrical acoustics method of acoustic radiance transfer, from which we extract a set of energy decay modes and their positional relationships with sources and listeners. In this paper, we describe the physical and mathematical significance of MoD-ART, highlighting its advantages and applicability to different scenarios. Through an analysis of the method's computational complexity, we show that it compares very favorably with ray-tracing. We also present simulation results showing that MoD-ART can capture multiple decay slopes and flutter echoes.

cs.SD↗

arXiv2023

Room Acoustic Rendering Networks with Control of Scattering and Early Reflections

Room acoustic synthesis can be used in Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and gaming applications to enhance listeners' sense of immersion, realism and externalisation. A common approach is to use Geometrical Acoustics (GA) models to compute impulse responses at interactive speed, and fast convolution methods to apply said responses in real time. Alternatively, delay-network-based models are capable of modeling certain aspects of room acoustics, but with a significantly lower computational cost. In order to bridge the gap between these classes of models, recent work introduced delay network designs that approximate Acoustic Radiance Transfer (ART), a GA model that simulates the transfer of acoustic energy between discrete surface patches in an environment. This paper presents two key extensions of such designs. The first extension involves a new physically-based and stability-preserving design of the feedback matrices, enabling more accurate control of scattering and, more in general, of late reverberation properties. The second extension allows an arbitrary number of early reflections to be modeled with high accuracy, meaning the network can be scaled at will between computational cost and early reverb precision. The proposed extensions are compared to the baseline ART-approximating delay network as well as two reference GA models. The evaluation is based on objective measures of perceptually-relevant features, including frequency-dependent reverberation times, echo density build-up, and early decay time. Results show how the proposed extensions result in a significant improvement over the baseline model, especially for the case of non-convex geometries or the case of unevenly distributed wall absorption, both scenarios of broad practical interest.

cs.SD↗