Acoustic contrast sensitivity to transfer function errors in the design of a personal audio system

An analytic means to evaluate the error sensitivity of a personal audio system is proposed. The personal audio system, which focuses acoustic energy into a zone of interest using multiple loudspeakers, is subject to various errors when implemented. The performance of a personal audio system, defined as an energy ratio between the zone of interest and the rest, is inevitably influenced by errors. Thus the ability to predict performance change at the design stage is crucial when building a robust personal audio system. The dependence of the energy ratio change on various types of errors is formulated.