Simulation, Visulization and Perception of Sound in a Virtual Environment Using Beamforming

This paper describes a method to visualize and localize the sound that is simulated within a virtual environment using beamforming. The use of an acoustic camera along with noise image software as a short introduction to beamforming method is demonstrated. Furthermore, the transition from the three-dimensional sound recording to the three-dimensional virtual acoustic mapping, visualization and sound perception for its directionality by real subjects within the virtual environment is described. Prerequisite for this is a 3D-model which can be created quickly within this computer aided virtual environment. The results show that the subjects were able to navigate and locate a real and virtual sound source in a dynamic virtual acoustic environment. The findings from these simulations, auditory navigation experiments via visualization technique within this virtual environment demonstrate the beamforming method combined with human subject data provide opportunities to study sound localization and fine tune the current Head Related Transfer Function (HRTF) for various room acoustic design applications.