Static Sound Sources Research Articles

Evaluating Environmental Sounds from a Presence Perspective for Virtual Reality Applications

We propose a methodology to design and evaluate environmental sounds for virtual environments. We propose to combine physically modeled sound events with recorded soundscapes. Physical models are used to provide feedback to users' actions, while soundscapes reproduce the characteristic soundmarks of an environment. In this particular case, physical models are used to simulate the act of walking in the botanical garden of the city of Prague, while soundscapes are used to reproduce the particular sound of the garden. The auditory feedback designed was combined with a photorealistic reproduction of the same garden. A between-subject experiment was conducted, where 126 subjects participated, involving six different experimental conditions, including both uni- and bimodal stimuli (auditory and visual). The auditory stimuli consisted of several combinations of auditory feedback, including static sound sources as well as self-induced interactive sounds simulated using physical models. Results show that subjects' motion in the environment is significantly enhanced when dynamic sound sources and sound of egomotion are rendered in the environment.

A Cross-Modal Aftereffect: Auditory Displacement following Adaptation to Visual Motion

It has been shown earlier that the perceived location of static sound-sources can be displaced (a) during visual motion and (b) following auditory motion. Here we combine these phenomena. The subject adapted to the horizontal visual motion of a surrounding drum, then (with the lights off) localized static sound-sources by setting the direction of a pointer. Adapting motion was clockwise or counterclockwise: the difference between each subject's settings following the opposite directions of adaptation showed small but consistent auditory displacements opposite to the adapting directions. This visual-auditory aftereffect, which is consistent with sensorineural data, challenges a general, if implicit, belief that aftereffects do not cross modalities.