Prediction of the listening area based on the energy vector

For some time, Higher-Order Ambisonics is a research topic in reproducing three-dimensional sound fields. Among others objectives, research aims at sound field reproduction over a large listening area. For predicting the spatial quality of reproduced sound the so-called energy vector (rE-vector) is a commonly used tool. At the central listening position, the energy vector provides good results for predicting position and width of a phantom sources. However, at off-center listening positions, the performance of the classic energy vector becomes worse. This paper compares different extensions of the energy vector model. The extensions try to include time and level differences, as well as the precedence effect in dependence of the listening position. Simulations investigate the existing loudspeaker arrangement IEM CUBE for Ambisonic playback of up to 5th order and calculate the extended energy vectors for discrete points within the whole listening area. The resulting localization accuracy at these points can be summarized to predict areas with sufficient localization accuracy.