Influence of translatory motion of listeners on the perception of virtual acoustic environments

• Applicant: Professor Dr.-Ing. Karlheinz Brandenburg
• Subject Area: Acoustics
• Term: from 2017 to 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 387093958

The perception of virtual acoustic environments (VAEs) has been studied for years. An interactive translation enables the listener exploring more details of the auditory scene. Especially the continuous change of the listening position has rarely been subject to research.On the other hand multiple studies have shown, that dynamic listeners perceive different details of their acoustic environment with a higher accuracy. For example, motion parallax effects can facilitate the distance perception of a translating listener. Additionally, the directivity and extent of a sound source is perceived more accurately.Whether and in which way these effects can be observed in VAEs has been studied only rudimentary so far. It is still not clear, how simplifications in the simulation algorithms affect the natural perception. Furthermore the question remains whether a simplified or missing reproduction of certain aspects are perceived as a drawback regarding quality.In the requested project, the perception of virtual auditory environments regarding a changing listening perspective is subject to research. Besides aspects of continuous changes in distance, the relative changes in orientation between the virtual sound source and the virtual listener will be investigated. Furthermore, the perception of the virtual room plays an important role in the creation of virtual scenes. However, the perception of room acoustics during the movement of a listener is not completely understood.Target of this project is the estimation of connections between certain technical parameters of position dynamic binaural synthesis and the perception of VAEs. The investigations will focus on the contribution of translational listener movement.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants