3D Audio for VR Applications: Fundamentals and Practicalities

摘要

Immersive Virtual Reality has been experimenting a constant development and has become more and more popular in the last times. This development has been mainly focused in the visual modality. However, auditory stimuli can also be very powerful in creating immersive perceptions. In this context, three-dimensional localization of sound sources plays an important role in these systems.3D audio techniques allow to produce the perception in the listener that a sound source is virtually located anywhere in the 3D space, including behind or above the listener. They are not new, but, with the advancements in computational power, it is now possible to perform the required processing in real time using affordable equipment. Therefore, the interest for 3D sound has been increasing.Additionally, the environment modifies sound and this is especially relevant when simulating spatial sound. The perception of sound includes a combination of the original sound emitted by the source, modifications due to the environment and modifications produced by the listener's head. All those modifications can be characterized and applied in a simulation in order to virtually locate a source in a specific place within a given environment.In this talk, the fundamentals of several techniques of 3D audio will be presented, with special attention to those more suitable for affordable Virtual Reality systems. More specifically, the potential of binaural audio and virtual Ambisonics will be presented. In addition to this, the role of the environment and how it can be considered will also be discussed. Finally, using 3D audio in a Virtual Reality system requires to know some basic concepts of real time audio, which will be addressed as well. Moreover, the main decisions and trade-off to be taken when implementing a 3D sound Tenderer will be discussed, presenting the practical implications of each of them.