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Collaborative Auralization in VR Architectural Acoustics

How do sounds interact with each other in an enclosed space? Depending on the reflective/refractive properties of materials in the scene and locations of different sound sources, I want to identify and implement visualizations that can help users understand the architectural acoustics of a virtual room.

Wiki Results

  1. Comparisons of existing software for architectural acoustics (EVERTims, Odeon, etc.)
  2. Tutorial on collaborative VR architectural acoustic visualization (Unity)
  3. Extend my current entry in the Wiki on “Audio Visualization in VR”

Tongyu Zhou

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Milestones

  • 4/05: Survey of existing software for architectural acoustics to identify what can be most effective in collaborative VR
  • 4/07: A completed Wiki entry comparing the software in terms of 1) time to setup 2) functionality 3) usability 4) potential for collaboration
    • Deliverable: the documented Wiki entry
  • 4/12: A VR scene populated with sound sources (like speakers, instruments, etc.)
    • Deliverable: video showcasing this scene
  • 4/14: A fully built collaborative VR scene with the above + transmittable user audio
    • Deliverable: video showcasing this scene
  • 4/19: A completed implementation for architectural acoustic visualization, based on insights from 4/7
    • Deliverable: A tutorial in the Wiki describing how I constructed these visualizations
  • 4/21: An extended version of the architectural acoustic visualizations to rooms with different materials. The users should be able to toggle between them to see different visualizations
    • Deliverable: video showcasing the completed visualizations
  • 4/26: An in-class activity where users are placed in rooms with different materials and asked to determine which is the best/worst in terms of sound propagation in different scenarios based on the visualization. In these visualizations, they should be able to see the visualizations of their voices bouncing off each other.
    • Deliverable: the class activity and the post-activity survey based on questions from above
  • 4/28: A report based on results of the class activity that analyzes the responses to the survey questions
    • Deliverable: a Wiki entry with these takeaways
  • 5/03: Final presentation finished
  • 5/05: (Leaving some slack here in case one of the previous milestones spill over)