3D SOUND REPRODUCTION APPARATUS AND METHOD USING VIRTUAL SPEAKER TECHNIQUE UNDER STEREO SPEAKER ENVIRONMENTS

A stereophonic sound reproduction device and a method using virtual speaker technique under the stereo speaker environment are provided to obtain a sound effect like a multi-channel output system by applying a virtual surround-sound effect in outputting an audio signal input through a multi-channel, by a two-channel output system. In a stereophonic sound providing device in a stereo speaker, a stereo channel virtual speaker processor(1) diffuses low and high-pitched sound ranges for each left and right channels(L,R) of an input stereo sound signal, diffuses a sound image and maintains a front sound image by using the signal diffused into a high-pitched sound range, and outputs the combination of the left and right processed sound. A multi-channel virtual speaker processor(2) diffuses low and high-pitched sound ranges for left and right front channels and left and right surround channels of an input multi-channel sound signal, diffuses a sound image by using the signal diffused into a high-pitched sound range, maintains the front sound image by using a front center channel and a low frequency effect channel, and outputs the combination of the left and right processed sound by controlling gains. An output device(3) outputs a signal from the stereo channel virtual speaker processor or the multi-channel virtual speaker processor to the stereo speaker.