Patent ID: 6839438

Claim:
An audio rendering system comprising: a front signal modifier configured to receive a plurality of audio signals representing a plurality of sources of aural information and location information representing apparent locations for the sources of said aural information, and apply a gain to the signals representative of the location information, the front signal modifier including a plurality of head-related transfer function filters; a rear signal modifier configured to receive the plurality of audio signals representing a plurality of sources of aural information and location information representing apparent locations for the sources of said aural information, in the same unmodified form in which they are received at the front signal modifier, and apply a gain to the signals representative of the location information, the rear signal modifier including a plurality of panning filters configured to approximate head-related transfer function filters; front speakers including a left front speaker and a right front speaker configured to receive signals from the front signal modifier and generate a signal to a listener; and at least one rear speaker configured to receive signals from the rear signal modifier and generate a signal to the listener to offset frontward bias created by the front speakers; whereby the gains applied to the signal are calculated to produce generally equal perceived energy from each of the front and rear speakers.