The Virtual Acoustics and Auralization Database

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The buildings we inhabit everyday affect us all in terms of how we communicate, project our voice, listen to our environment, and respond to excessive noise. The sound of the built environment and good acoustic design is critical in modern architectural practice and this is in part based on a clear understanding of what has gone before, hence the fascination with, for example, the great concert halls and opera houses of Europe and their influence on modern design practices. More recently there has also been interest in the research and preservation of the acoustics of heritage sites which presents additional opportunities for both understanding and interpretation of the past as well as developing new audiences for work of this nature through novel virtual reality style interaction. Acoustic data also provides additional opportunities to inform issues relating to preservation and measurement of degradation or change over time. A key example being the destruction by fire of the Gran Teatro La Fenice in Venice in 1996, and its subsequent restoration, where acoustic measurements taken just prior to the fire played a key role in the acoustic redesign. The main application for this data however is in music production, where the acoustic effects of real spaces, played back around a listener or audience over many loudspeakers presents exciting, dramatic and highly realistic acoustic environments in which recorded musical works can be contextualised.Developments in measuring the acoustics of concert halls and opera houses have resulted in standardised methods of impulse response capture for a wide variety of auralization applications. The impulse response is the acoustic fingerprint for a given space and uniquely defines its acoustic characteristics for particular sound source and listener positions. From these measurements objective acoustic parameters, as used in the design process can be determined. The result can also be used to create a virtual acoustic representation of the space so that a listener can experience the same aural sensations remotely as if they were actually there - this is what auralization is, a term derived as the audio equivalent to visualisation. These techniques are now commonly used in both architectural acoustics and in the field of acoustic archaeology (archeoacoustics). Measurements of existing real environments can be further extended by analogous techniques employed for virtual sites that only exist as part of a 3D computer model - these latter techniques are highly applicable in the field of acoustic archaeology where an existing site may have little resemblance to how it looked or sounded at the height of its use.Researchers at York currently have extensive acoustic survey data for 12 actual sites and 2 3D computer models. This work was initiated through an AHRB/ACE Science/Heritage Fellowship in 2004 but to date only a small part of this work has been made more widely available. The aim of this project is to produce a sustainable online repository for this data and a more general resource for research in virtual acoustics. This will consist of a database of high-resolution acoustic impulse responses for sites across and beyond the UK, starting with the 14 that have currently already been completed. These measurements will be supported with software to enable third parties to conduct their own acoustic surveys, upload the impulse responses obtained and audition the final results using specially recorded anechoic audio material that will also be made available.This resource will have significant impact in music production as well as in the fields of architectural/archaeological acoustic studies. There will also be related impact in the field of audio engineering where auralization and its effective delivery to the listener are key issues relating to, for example, the development of interactive entertainment and communication, high definition television, and computer game audio development.