Impulse Response Shortening for Acoustic Listening Room Compensation

The objective of this paper is to investigate the usability of channel shortening approaches known from data trans-mission for the equalization of acoustic systems. In setups for data transmission, the equalizing filter usually succeeds the channel, whereas in systems for the compensation of room acoustics it is placed in the signal path in front of the loudspeaker, which then acts as an acoustic source in the room. In both data transmission and room equalization, the channel impulse response is usually assumed to be known. In this paper we investigate both setups under the more realistic assumption of imperfect channel knowledge, and we show under which conditions the designs are equivalent. In particular, taking imperfect channel knowledge into account leads to robust designs that allow for more coarse, but faster channel estimation techniques.