A First Experience with Spatial Audio in a Virtual Environment

An important step in this line of research is to perform a series of experiments to quantify the effectiveness of the VR audio system as a function of operating parameters. Experiments are scheduled to determine the localization accuracy possible with the existing Mercator spatialization engine over a range of bandwidths. The results of this work should be helpful in determining the appropriate minimum sample rate for spatial audio. Experiments are also being designed to determine the effects of latency and hysteresis threshold width on a user’s immersion in a virtual environment.