Patent ID: 8340314

Claim:
An audio system for an aircraft cabin for providing passengers with information and entertainment programmes, comprising: a base system in which multiple base loudspeakers are arranged in the aircraft cabin, and via which an audio signal with at least one base audio channel is reproduced, wherein the at least one base audio channel is output by a central processing unit to the multiple base loudspeakers via a base bus system with multiple distribution units and multiple cabin units; and a separate expansion system, connectable to the central processing unit, the expansion system having multiple expansion speakers in the aircraft cabin, via which an expansion audio signal with at least one expansion audio channel is reproduced, wherein the expansion audio signal is output to the multiple expansion loudspeakers by the central processing unit via an audio controller and via an expansion bus system, the expansion system further comprising multiple audio end devices configured to receive a control parameter, calculated by the audio controller from sound signals from cabin microphones distributed throughout the cabin, and configured to process the audio expansion signal for performing wave field synthesis, to generate a wave field signal by using the control parameter, wherein the resulting wave field signal is output by the multiple expansion loudspeakers.