HOAST: A Higher-Order Ambisonics Streaming Platform
The availability of free, user-friendly software tools as well as affordable hardware is boosting interest in higher-order Ambisonics productions not only in research communities, but also in the fields of Pro Audio and Virtual Reality. However, there is no practical solution available for presenting such productions publicly in a web browser. The largest commercial platforms, for example, are limited to first- or second-order binaural playback. We introduce the higher-order Ambisonics streaming platform HOAST, a new 360° video-platform, which allows for up to fourth-order Ambisonics audio material. Apart from implementation details of state-of-the-art binaural decoding and acoustic zoom, this contribution describes the current state of multichannel web audio and related challenges.
Authors: Thomas Deppisch (Institute of Electronic Music and Acoustics, University of Music and Performing Arts, Graz), Nils Meyer-Kahlen (Aalto University, Department of Signal Processing and Acoustics), Benjamin Hofer (Hofer Web Solutions), Tomasz Łatka (Zylia Sp. z o. o.) and Tomasz Żernicki (Zylia Sp. z o. o.)
