Impact of the Visual Rendering System on Subjective Auralization Assessment in VR

Théry, David; Poirier-Quinot, David; Postma, Barteld N. J.; Katz, Brian F. G.

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-72323-5_7

Cited by 4 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Similar results were also observed for different VR visual rendering systems in the context of multi-modal auralizations (Thery et al, 2017), evaluating mostly the same attributes (without readability), where ASW and LEV were also slightly impacted by the visual VR reproduction system. This could raise questions about the stability of these perceptual attributes in complex situations.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

Auditory perception stability evaluation comparing binaural and loudspeaker Ambisonic presentations of dynamic virtual concert auralizations

Théry

Katz

2021

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

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Auralizations can be computed in a variety of ways as well as be rendered over different sound reproduction systems. They are used as a design tool in architectural projects and for fundamental studies on spatial perception and cognition, hence requiring reliability and confidence in the obtained results. This study assessed this reliability through auditory perception stability by comparing the perceived differences between two rendering systems for a given set of second-order Ambisonic auralizations: virtual loudspeaker binaural rendering over head-tracked headphones versus 32-loudspeaker rendering. Anechoic extracts of jazz pieces have been recorded and presented in various acoustic conditions over these two systems, evaluated on the following criteria: Readability, distance, listener envelopment (LEV), apparent source width (ASW), reverberance, and loudness. Results show that consistent significant differences between scene conditions are comparably perceived across the two systems. However, significant effects of the sound reproduction system were observed for ASW, LEV, and reverberance in some configurations. V

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

Auditory perception stability evaluation comparing binaural and loudspeaker Ambisonic presentations of dynamic virtual concert auralizations

Théry

Katz

2021

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

Self Cite

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“…If the visual media is omnidirectional and dynamic (i.e. in VR), the spatial perception of sound sources will be greatly affected owing to visual dominance [13,15,16].…”

Section: Binaural Audio In Soundscape Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Several emerging studies have investigated the differences of spatial sound quality ratings using different visual and audio reproduction techniques in VR [16,[32][33][34]. However, the results are limited to the evaluation of static musical performers in an indoor music listening Building and Environment Volume 149 (2019) 1-14 6 environment, and not the overall impression of an outdoor space, the primary focus of soundscape research.…”

Section: Choosing the Appropriate Reproduction Mediamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The recorded videos were post-processed (Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2017) into spherical projections for playback in a VR HMD, because acoustic evaluations through a VR HMD were found to be perceptually similar to the 180° CAVE-light system [16]. The recorded acoustic environment of the four locations was reproduced with three methods: FOA-static binaural;…”

Section: Audio-visual Recordingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Quality assessment of acoustic environment reproduction methods for cinematic virtual reality in soundscape applications

Hong

Lam

Ong

et al. 2019

Building and Environment

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With the advent of virtual reality (VR) technology, spatial audio has been increasingly adopted to evaluate the acoustic environment in soundscape research. It is therefore imperative to assess the quality of commonly used spatial audio reproduction methods to determine their ecological validity. Through subjective evaluations with 30 participants, the same participant evaluated four outdoor in situ locations vis-à-vis its corresponding audio-visual recording in VR on a separate day. A total of three spatial audio reproduction methods were assessed in VR, and they were all down-mixed from the first-order ambisonics (FOA) recordings to headphonebased FOA-static binaural, FOA-tracked binaural; and FOA 2-dimensional (2D) octagonal speaker array. The participants evaluated the acoustic environment in terms of the overall soundscape quality and perceived spatial qualities at each location. Regarding overall soundscape quality, there were no significant differences in evaluating the sound-source dominance and affective soundscape qualities between in situ and all VR methods. However, significant differences were found in the perceived spatial qualities between three reproduction methods and in situ. Among the source-related spatial attributes, the perceived distance of the dominating sounds was farther in the virtual than in the in situ evaluations. In the localization of sound sources, both the FOA-tracked binaural and the FOA-2D speaker array exhibited higher spatial acoustic fidelity than FOA-static binaural. Regarding the environment-related spatial quality attributes, the 2D speaker array reproduction was perceived as more immersive and realistic than other reproduction methods. Overall, the FOA-tracked binaural appears to exhibit sufficient fidelity for cinematic VR evaluation of soundscapes.

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“…Some of them adopted non-immersive methods, such as a monitor screen [8,19,45,[67][68][69], visual screen [70] and 2D projection [71,72]. Some of the studies utilized the immersive Cave Automatic Virtual Environment (CAVE) system [65,73]. The CAVE system was first introduced in 1992 [74], and the aim of its invention was to provide a one-to-many visualization experience that utilizes large projection screens [75].…”

Section: Other Visual Rendering Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological Validity of Immersive Virtual Reality (IVR) Techniques for the Perception of Urban Sound Environments

Oberman

Aletta

et al. 2020

Acoustics

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Immersive Virtual Reality (IVR) is a simulated technology used to deliver multisensory information to people under different environmental conditions. When IVR is generally applied in urban planning and soundscape research, it reveals attractive possibilities for the assessment of urban sound environments with higher immersion for human participation. In virtual sound environments, various topics and measures are designed to collect subjective responses from participants under simulated laboratory conditions. Soundscape or noise assessment studies during virtual experiences adopt an evaluation approach similar to in situ methods. This paper aims to review the approaches that are utilized to assess the ecological validity of IVR for the perception of urban sound environments and the necessary technologies during audio–visual reproduction to establish a dynamic IVR experience that ensures ecological validity. The review shows that, through the use of laboratory tests including subjective response surveys, cognitive performance tests and physiological responses, the ecological validity of IVR can be assessed for the perception of urban sound environments. The reproduction system with head-tracking functions synchronizing spatial audio and visual stimuli (e.g., head-mounted displays (HMDs) with first-order Ambisonics (FOA)-tracked binaural playback) represents the prevailing trend to achieve high ecological validity. These studies potentially contribute to the outcomes of a normalized evaluation framework for subjective soundscape and noise assessments in virtual environments.

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Impact of the Visual Rendering System on Subjective Auralization Assessment in VR

Cited by 4 publications

References 14 publications

Auditory perception stability evaluation comparing binaural and loudspeaker Ambisonic presentations of dynamic virtual concert auralizations

Auditory perception stability evaluation comparing binaural and loudspeaker Ambisonic presentations of dynamic virtual concert auralizations

Quality assessment of acoustic environment reproduction methods for cinematic virtual reality in soundscape applications

Ecological Validity of Immersive Virtual Reality (IVR) Techniques for the Perception of Urban Sound Environments

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