Immersive audio technologies have the potential to transform the way we interact within virtual environments (VE) and their applications. Users can navigate immersive content in Virtual Reality (VR) with a six-degrees-of-freedom in an egocentric reference frame. When auditory feedback is provided in an ecologically valid interactive and multisensory experience, a perceptually plausible scheme for developing 3Dsonic interactions is possible, yet still efficient in computational power, memory, and latency.
This book tackles the design of 3D spatial interactions in an audio-centered and audio-first perspective, providing the fundamental notions related to the creation and evaluation of immersive sonic experiences:
- Immersive audio concerns the computational aspects of the acoustical-space properties of VR technologies.
- Sonic interaction refers to human-computer interplay through auditory feedback in VE.
- VR systems naturally support multimodal integration, impacting different application domains.
These are the key elements to draw on user attention and enhance the sensation of place in VEs.
The mission of this book is to shape an emerging new field of study at the intersection of sonic interaction design and immersive media, embracing an archipelago of existing research spread in different audio communities. All began in 2014 with IEEE Virtual Reality workshops Sonic Interactions in Virtual Environments (SIVE). SIVE is the study and exploitation of sound being one of the principal channels conveying information, meaning, aesthetic and emotional qualities in immersive and interactive contexts. Contributors and editors include interdisciplinary experts from the fields of computer science, engineering, acoustics, psychology, design, humanities, and beyond.
The core motivation of this initiative is to increase among the VR communities, researchers, and practitioners, the awareness of the importance of sonic elements when designing immersive environments. The book will feature state-of-the-art research on real-time auralization, sonic interaction design in VR, quality of the experience in multimodal scenarios, and applications.