Scalable Room Acoustic Modelling (SCReAM)

我们大部分时间都在室内度过。在封闭的空间内，声音被多次反射，导致混响。我们习惯于感知回响我们无意识地用它来导航空间，当它不存在时，我们会注意到。同样，我们的电子设备，如笔记本电脑，电视或智能家居设备，都暴露在混响中，需要考虑到它的存在。因此，能够预测、合成和控制混响非常重要。这是使用房间声学模型完成的。现有的房间声学模型受到两个主要限制。首先，它们最初是从非常不同的起点和非常不同的目的开发的，这导致了一个高度分散的研究领域，一个领域的进步不能转化为其他领域的进步，从而减缓了研究。其次，每个模型都有特定的准确度和特定的计算复杂度，一些非常准确的模型需要几天时间才能运行（物理模型），而其他模型则实时运行，但准确度较低，并且只旨在创建令人愉快的混响声音（感知模型）。因此，没有一个单一的模式可以从一个极端到另一个极端不断扩展。该项目将通过定义一种新颖的，统一的房间声学模型来克服这两个限制，该模型结合了所有主要类型模型的吸引人的特性，并且可以根据需要从轻量级感知模型扩展到全尺寸物理模型。这种可缩放的房间声学模型（SCReAM）将在许多应用中带来好处，从消费电子和通信到计算机游戏，沉浸式媒体和建筑声学。该模型将能够适应真实的时间，使最终用户能够获得可用计算资源所允许的最佳听觉体验。一旦有更强大的机器可用，音频软件开发人员将不需要更新他们的开发链，从而降低成本。电子设备，如免提设备，智能扬声器和扩声系统，将能够建立一个更灵活的室内声学内部表示，使他们能够减少不必要的回声，消除声反馈，和/或改善再现声音的音调平衡。该项目的主要假设是，物理模型和感知模型之间存在联系，这项研究将在萨里大学进行，由Sonos（音频消费电子产品），Electronic Arts（电脑游戏），Audio Software Development Limited（电脑游戏音频咨询）和Adrian James Acoustics（声学咨询）提供工业支持。

We spend the majority of our lives indoors. Within enclosed spaces, sound is reflected numerous times, leading to reverberation. We are accustomed to perceiving reverberation-we unconsciously use it to navigate the space, and, when absent, we notice. Similarly, our electronic devices, such as laptops, TVs or smart home devices, are exposed to reverberation and need to take into account its presence. Being able to predict, synthesise, and control reverberation is therefore important. This is done using room acoustic models. Existing room acoustic models suffer from two main limitations. First, they were originally developed from very different starting points and for very different purposes, which has led to a highly fragmented research field where advancements in one area do not translate to advancements in other areas, slowing down research. Second, each model has a specific accuracy and a specific computational complexity, with some very accurate models taking several days to run (physical models), while others run in real-time but with low accuracy and only aim to create a pleasing reverberant sound (perceptual models). Thus, there is no single model that allows to scale continuously from one extreme to the other. This project will overcome both limitations by defining a novel, unifying room acoustic model that combines appealing properties of all main types of models and that can scale on demand from a lightweight perceptual model to a full-scale physical model. Such a SCalable Room Acoustic Model (SCReAM) will bring benefits in many applications, ranging from consumer electronics and communications, to computer games, immersive media, and architectural acoustics. The model will be able to adapt in real time, enabling end-users to get the best possible auditory experience allowed by the available computing resources. Audio software developers will not need to update their development chains once more powerful machines become available, thus reducing costs. Electronic equipment, such as hands-free devices, smart loudspeakers, and sound reinforcement systems, will be able to build a more flexible internal representation of room acoustics, allowing them to reduce unwanted echoes, to remove acoustic feedback, and/or to improve the tonal balance of reproduced sound.The main hypothesis of the project is that a connection exists between physical models and perceptual models based on so-called delay networks, and that this connection can be leveraged to develop the sought-after unifying and scalable model.The research will be conducted at the University of Surrey with industrial support by Sonos (audio consumer electronics), Electronic Arts (computer games), Audio Software Development Limited (computer games audio consultancy), and Adrian James Acoustics (acoustics consultancy).