Spatially Aware Headphones

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.audio.tech (More info?)

I'm doing a final year masters project trying to develop/investigate the
idea of spatially aware headphones, i.e. you move your head and the
stereo/surround image apears to stay in the same place. I've searched
the internet and all the journals etc and have found no reference to
similar projects.

Has anyone heard of anyone else doing something along these lines or can
anyone suggest organisations/companies that may be interested in getting
involved in the project?

Richard

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.audio.tech (More info?)

"And Blah Blah Blah" <r.e.bowden@durham.ac.uk> wrote in message
news:ddloak$e8u$1@heffalump.dur.ac.uk...
> I'm doing a final year masters project trying to develop/investigate the
> idea of spatially aware headphones, i.e. you move your head and the
> stereo/surround image apears to stay in the same place. I've searched the
> internet and all the journals etc and have found no reference to similar
> projects.
>
> Has anyone heard of anyone else doing something along these lines or can
> anyone suggest organisations/companies that may be interested in getting
> involved in the project?
>
> Richard

There is this:
http://www.headphone.com/products/faqs/about-headroom-crossfeed/computers-to-fix-headphones/

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.audio.tech (More info?)

On Sat, 13 Aug 2005 22:22:16 +0100, And Blah Blah Blah
<r.e.bowden@durham.ac.uk> wrote:

>I'm doing a final year masters project trying to develop/investigate the
>idea of spatially aware headphones, i.e. you move your head and the
>stereo/surround image apears to stay in the same place. I've searched
>the internet and all the journals etc and have found no reference to
>similar projects.
>
>Has anyone heard of anyone else doing something along these lines or can
>anyone suggest organisations/companies that may be interested in getting
>involved in the project?
>
>Richard

Google "head tracking" and also "Richard o Duda" - one of the Good
Guys(tm)

eg.
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&client=REAL-tb&ie=UTF-8&rls=RNWA,RNWA:2003-35,RNWA:en&q=%22head++tracking%22+%22Richard+O+Duda%22

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.audio.tech (More info?)

And Blah Blah Blah wrote:
> Has anyone heard of anyone else doing something along these lines or can
> anyone suggest organisations/companies that may be interested in getting
> involved in the project?

Talk to the folks doing virutal reality work. Anyone who is trying to
include audio in their VR environment has to address exactly this
effect. Hopefully there will still be enough unsolved issues for you to
get a masters project out of attempting to address them...

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.audio.tech (More info?)

Joe Kesselman wrote:
> And Blah Blah Blah wrote:
>
>> Has anyone heard of anyone else doing something along these lines or
>> can anyone suggest organisations/companies that may be interested in
>> getting involved in the project?
>
>
> Talk to the folks doing virutal reality work. Anyone who is trying to
> include audio in their VR environment has to address exactly this
> effect. Hopefully there will still be enough unsolved issues for you to
> get a masters project out of attempting to address them...

I think everything they do at the moment in VR involves already knowing
where the source of the sound is and projecting it onto a 3D/stereo
image. I want to take a Stereo music CD or surround sound DVD and be
able to move your head. I'd not found anyone who has done that.

Richard

 

[Andy]

Archived from groups: rec.audio.tech (More info?)

> I want to take a Stereo music CD or surround sound DVD and be
> able to move your head.

If you add different time delays to, say, stereo left and right
channels (to start mimicing how the ear interprets position) then the
phase change will vary with frequency. At some frequencies the two
channels will add and at some they will cancel. This will not sound
pleasant or realistic.

However, if you start with a signal for each source then the processing
should be relatively straightforward.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.audio.tech (More info?)

"And Blah Blah Blah" <r.e.bowden@durham.ac.uk> wrote in message
news:ddr8m5$9s3$1@heffalump.dur.ac.uk...
> Joe Kesselman wrote:
>> And Blah Blah Blah wrote:
>>
>>> Has anyone heard of anyone else doing something along these lines or can
>>> anyone suggest organisations/companies that may be interested in getting
>>> involved in the project?
>>
>>
>> Talk to the folks doing virutal reality work. Anyone who is trying to
>> include audio in their VR environment has to address exactly this effect.
>> Hopefully there will still be enough unsolved issues for you to get a
>> masters project out of attempting to address them...
>
> I think everything they do at the moment in VR involves already knowing
> where the source of the sound is and projecting it onto a 3D/stereo image.
> I want to take a Stereo music CD or surround sound DVD and be able to move
> your head. I'd not found anyone who has done that.

Rotation, or rotation and translation? Not that I have anything to offer,
I'm just curious. Something involving GPS might be fun...

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.audio.tech (More info?)

Karl Uppiano wrote:
> "And Blah Blah Blah" <r.e.bowden@durham.ac.uk> wrote in message
> news:ddr8m5$9s3$1@heffalump.dur.ac.uk...
>
>>Joe Kesselman wrote:
>>
>>>And Blah Blah Blah wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>Has anyone heard of anyone else doing something along these lines or can
>>>>anyone suggest organisations/companies that may be interested in getting
>>>>involved in the project?
>>>
>>>
>>>Talk to the folks doing virutal reality work. Anyone who is trying to
>>>include audio in their VR environment has to address exactly this effect.
>>>Hopefully there will still be enough unsolved issues for you to get a
>>>masters project out of attempting to address them...
>>
>>I think everything they do at the moment in VR involves already knowing
>>where the source of the sound is and projecting it onto a 3D/stereo image.
>>I want to take a Stereo music CD or surround sound DVD and be able to move
>>your head. I'd not found anyone who has done that.
>
>
> Rotation, or rotation and translation? Not that I have anything to offer,
> I'm just curious. Something involving GPS might be fun...
>
>

Initially just rotation. I'm not even sure if its possible. However it
turns out to be easy (Which I very much doubt) translation would be an
interesting extension. Im not so interested in the technology for
detecting movement or rotation, that has been done in several different
ways already. My principle concern is the DSP.

Richard

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.audio.tech (More info?)

>>> I think everything they do at the moment in VR involves already
>>> knowing where the source of the sound is and projecting it onto a
>>> 3D/stereo image. I want to take a Stereo music CD or surround sound
>>> DVD and be able to move your head.

If you want to simulate the placement of a pair of stereo speakers and
"walk" around them and/or be able to turn your head relative to them,
that's doable and not even very difficult -- in fact, it's precisely the
VR problem you've just described. You might as well simulate the room as
well, to make the problem more interesting...

If you want to try to recover 3D, or even real 2D, subject placement
information out of the stereo signal... Good luck; you're going to need it.