Echoes of Other Worlds: Sound in Virtual Reality: Past, Present and Future
Abstract
This book explores the nature and importance of sound in virtual reality (VR). Approaching the subject from a holistic perspective, the book delivers an emergent framework of VR sound. This framework brings together numerous elements that collectively determine the nature of sound in VR; from various aspects of VR technology, to the physiological and psychological complexities of the user, to the wider technological, historical and sociocultural issues.
Garner asks, amongst other things: what is the meaning of sound? How have fictional visions of VR shaped our expectations for present technology? How can VR sound hope to evoke the desired responses for such an infinitely heterogeneous user base? This book if for those with an interest in sound and VR, who wish to learn more about the great complexities of the subject and discover the contemporary issues from which future VR will surely advance.
... Such an understanding also connects personal music listening, and specifi cally listening to the sonic self-narratives of contemporary digital pop, to notions of immersion and presence in Virtual Reality (VR) user experience. In VR, presence, defi ned as the feeling of 'being there', in a simulated environment (Sanchez-Vives & Slater 2005), is achieved through user engagement with visual and sonic spatial illusions, developed through techniques in visual spatial simulation as well as through corresponding spatial sound capture and design methods, including ambisonic recording, ambisonic and binaural rendering, object-based audio spatialisation and room reverberation modelling (Geier et al., 2010;Shivappa et al., 2016;Garner, 2018). Spatial sound plays an increasingly signifi cant role in producing optimally 'immersive' VR experiences (Nordahl & Nilsson, 2013;Garner, 2018) while headphones have recently emerged as the preferred means of presenting and encountering sound in VR (Garner, 2018). ...
... In VR, presence, defi ned as the feeling of 'being there', in a simulated environment (Sanchez-Vives & Slater 2005), is achieved through user engagement with visual and sonic spatial illusions, developed through techniques in visual spatial simulation as well as through corresponding spatial sound capture and design methods, including ambisonic recording, ambisonic and binaural rendering, object-based audio spatialisation and room reverberation modelling (Geier et al., 2010;Shivappa et al., 2016;Garner, 2018). Spatial sound plays an increasingly signifi cant role in producing optimally 'immersive' VR experiences (Nordahl & Nilsson, 2013;Garner, 2018) while headphones have recently emerged as the preferred means of presenting and encountering sound in VR (Garner, 2018). ...
... In VR, presence, defi ned as the feeling of 'being there', in a simulated environment (Sanchez-Vives & Slater 2005), is achieved through user engagement with visual and sonic spatial illusions, developed through techniques in visual spatial simulation as well as through corresponding spatial sound capture and design methods, including ambisonic recording, ambisonic and binaural rendering, object-based audio spatialisation and room reverberation modelling (Geier et al., 2010;Shivappa et al., 2016;Garner, 2018). Spatial sound plays an increasingly signifi cant role in producing optimally 'immersive' VR experiences (Nordahl & Nilsson, 2013;Garner, 2018) while headphones have recently emerged as the preferred means of presenting and encountering sound in VR (Garner, 2018). ...
This article examines popular music listening in light of recent research in auditory perception and spatial experience, record production, and virtual reality, while considering parallel developments in digital pop music production practice. The discussion begins by considering theories of listening and embodiment by Brandon LaBelle, Eric Clarke, Salomè Voegelin and Linda Salter, examining relations between listening subjects and aural environments, conceptualising listening as a process of environmental ‘inhabiting’, and considering auditory experience as the real-time construction of ‘reality’. These ideas are discussed in relation to recent research on popular music production and perception, with a focus on matters of spatial sound design, the virtual ‘staging’ of music performances and performing bodies, digital editing methods and effects, and on shifting relations between musical spatiality, singer-persona, audio technologies, and listener. Writings on music and virtual space by Martin Knakkergaard, Allan Moore, Ragnhild Brøvig-Hanssen & Anne Danielsen, Denis Smalley, Dale Chapman, Kodwo Eshun and Holger Schulze are discussed, before being related to conceptions of VR sound and user experience by Jaron Lanier, Rolf Nordahl & Niels Nilsson, Mel Slater, Tom Garner and Frances Dyson. This critical framework informs three short aural analyses of digital pop tracks released during the last 10 years - Titanium (Guetta & Sia 2010), Ultralight Beam (West 2016) and 2099 (Charli XCX 2019) - presented in the form of autoethnographic ‘listening notes’. Through this discussion on personal popular music listening and virtual spatiality, a theory of pop listening as embodied inhabiting of simulated narrative space, or virtual story-world, with reference to ‘aural-dominant realities’ (Salter), ‘sonic possible worlds’ (Voegelin), and ‘sonic fictions’ (Eshun), is developed. By examining personal music listening in relation to VR user experience, this study proposes listening to pop music in the 21st century as a mode of immersive, embodied ‘storyliving’, or ‘storydoing’ (Allen & Tucker).
... Some of the artifacts mentioned in this entry for an historical account of VR (virtual reality) are dated far earlier than 1987, since they were chosen according to criterion that the artifact creates an immersion effect primarily based on sense of vision. Using a technology-oriented approach in relation with the arguments in contemporary research, Garner (2018) suggests that stereoscopy, field of view, and synchronized multimodality are vital contributors to presence and immersion which are two of the most significant elements of VR experience. To enhance immersion and presence, an artifact may also employ auditory, olfactory, or somatosensory stimuli besides 2D (two-dimensional) wide angle field of view or 3D (three-dimensional) vision. ...
... As this was the first olfactory stimulus embedded within an immersive technology, computer controlled olfactory interfaces were not available until 1993 (Youngblut et al. 1996). Heilig had the vision on the Sensorama's potential in education, training, and marketing but it was a commercial failure and the only instance of it was employed as an arcade console (Bown et al. 2017;Garner 2018). In the mid-1960s, he extended the idea to a multiviewer theater concept patented as the Experience Theater in 1969. ...
... It was not intended as an immersive virtual reality technology. For its motion tracking capabilities it is credited as a milestone in history of virtual reality, since it uses magnetometers to track head movements of the user to control the attached camera (Jerald 2015;Bown et al. 2017;Garner 2018). ...
... Em termos acústicos, os efeitos sonoros digitais que posicionam a fonte sonora em locais com características distintas -características físicas do espaço, posição espacial, entre outras -, oferecendo dessa forma diferentes perceções ao recetor, podem ser considerados como a base da criação de uma realidade acústica virtual. Por exemplo, o efeito de lateralização do som dá ao ouvinte uma sensação de posicionamento virtual do som, que de outra forma seria impossível sem alterar o posicionamento físico da fonte [43]. No entanto, esta espacialização virtual deve funcionar como o mundo real, por outras palavras, a fonte sonora não pode mudar a sua posição física mesmo que o recetor se mova -por exemplo, se uma pessoa que usa auscultadores sem espacialização de som, nos quais o posicionamento se faz entre esquerda e direita, e se escuta os tambores do lado direito e os graves do lado esquerdo, esta sensação não muda sob nenhum movimento físico da pessoa porque os auscultadores movem-se também de forma inerente e mantêm a mesma espacialização. ...
... Estas três formas de interação são também transversais ao uso da virtualidade neste tipo de performance. Por outras palavras, a virtualidade pode conferir à performance instrumental: um novo posicionamento sonoro virtual -em que é criado uma realidade virtual em relação ao posicionamento da fonte sonora [38], [43]; e, alterando o relacionamento entre consumidor e criador, na medida em que a realidade virtual permite ao consumidor assumir um posicionamento em palco, inclusivamente até assumir um papel performativo mesmo sem ter algum tipo de experiência musical [45]. ...
Book of Proceedings of 3rd International Conference on Digital Creation in Arts, Media and Technology – Emerging Extended Realities (ARTeFACTo 2022 Macao), held on 24, 25 Nov. 2022 at Ilha Verde campus, University of Saint Joseph, Macau.
Book editors: Gerald Estadieu, Filipa Martins de Abreu, Carlos Sena Caires & Adérito Fernandes-Marcos.
... Em termos acústicos, os efeitos sonoros digitais que posicionam a fonte sonora em locais com características distintas -características físicas do espaço, posição espacial, entre outras -, oferecendo dessa forma diferentes perceções ao recetor, podem ser considerados como a base da criação de uma realidade acústica virtual. Por exemplo, o efeito de lateralização do som dá ao ouvinte uma sensação de posicionamento virtual do som, que de outra forma seria impossível sem alterar o posicionamento físico da fonte [43]. No entanto, esta espacialização virtual deve funcionar como o mundo real, por outras palavras, a fonte sonora não pode mudar a sua posição física mesmo que o recetor se mova -por exemplo, se uma pessoa que usa auscultadores sem espacialização de som, nos quais o posicionamento se faz entre esquerda e direita, e se escuta os tambores do lado direito e os graves do lado esquerdo, esta sensação não muda sob nenhum movimento físico da pessoa porque os auscultadores movem-se também de forma inerente e mantêm a mesma espacialização. ...
... Estas três formas de interação são também transversais ao uso da virtualidade neste tipo de performance. Por outras palavras, a virtualidade pode conferir à performance instrumental: um novo posicionamento sonoro virtual -em 5 que é criado uma realidade virtual em relação ao posicionamento da fonte sonora [38], [43]; e, alterando o relacionamento entre consumidor e criador, na medida em que a realidade virtual permite ao consumidor assumir um posicionamento em palco, inclusivamente até assumir um papel performativo mesmo sem ter algum tipo de experiência musical [45]. ...
Resumo- O objetivo deste artigo é identificar e discutir a evolução impulsionada pelo uso das tecnologias digitais na performance musical instrumental. Limitamos o foco à performance musical de instrumentos identificados como pertencentes à família orquestral da tradição ocidental, de modo a auferir as repercussões, quer na performance, quer no instrumentista e considerando três aspetos chave da média-arte digital: interatividade, aleatoriedade controlada, e virtualidade. Por um lado, a junção destas duas áreas-média-arte digital e a performance musical instrumental-proporciona a aquisição de caraterísticas digitais aos instrumentos tradicionais e à sua performance, fornecendo novos caminhos interativos e iterativos. Por outro lado, a mesma junção, favorece também um nível de performance único devido ao elevado nível de especialização dos instrumentistas, possibilitando que a obra seja singular e irrepetível. Tudo isto conduz a uma evolução da notação musical, a uma criação de novas técnicas instrumentais e performativas, novos conceitos, uma ampliação multidisciplinar do papel dos instrumentistas e uma evolução na relação da média-arte digital com a música instrumental. No que concerne à estrutura, o artigo realiza primeiramente uma definição sobre ambas as áreas abordadas e posteriormente desenvolve os três aspetos mencionados com a adição da generatividade como aspeto inerente, identificando as diversas formas em como estas características artísticas se vão relacionando e evoluindo, assim como a sua repercussão na performance musical instrumental.
Abstract-The aim of this article is to identify and discuss the evolution fostered by the use of digital technologies in the instrumental music performance. We limit the focus to the musical performance of instruments identified as belonging to the orchestral family of Western tradition, in order to measure the repercussions on both the performance and the instrumentalist and considering three key aspects of new media art: interactivity, controlled randomness, and virtuality. On one hand, the junction of these two areas-new media art and instrumental music performance-enables the acquisition of digital characteristics to the traditional instruments and to their performance, providing new interactive and iterative paths. On the other hand, the same junction also leads to a unique level of performance due to the high level of instrumentalists' expertise, allowing the work to be singular and unrepeatable. All this leads to an evolution of musical notation, the creation of new instrumental and performance techniques, new concepts, a multidisciplinary broadening of the instrumentalists' role and an evolution in the relationship between new media art and instrumental music. Regarding the structure, the article firstly presents a definition of both areas, and then develops the three aspects mentioned with the addition of the generativity as an inherent aspect, identifying the different manners in which these artistic characteristics are related and evolved, as well as their repercussion in the instrumental music performance.
Keywords-aleatoriedade, interatividade, instrumentista, generatividade, virtualidade
... 1968 yılına gelindiğinde Ivan Sutherland'ın çalışması olan The Sword of Democles gündeme gelmiştir. Bu cihaz ağırlıklı bir taban ünitesine karşı dengelenmiş veya tavandan asılı ağır bir mekanik kol yoluyla kafa yönünü ve bakışları izleyen bir görüntüleme başlığı örneği olarak ifade edilebilir (Garner, 2018). 1970'lere gelindiğinde sanal gerçeklik sistemlerine yavaş yavaş etkileşim ögesinin de eklendiği görülmektedir. ...
... Yine 1990'ların başında piyasaya sürülen Virtuality 1000 serisi, Jonathan Waldern ve W-Industries tarafından geliştirilmiştir. Bu sistem, iletişim kurabilen ve kullanıcıların tek bir ortamı paylaşmalarını sağlayan çok oyunculu sanal gerçekliğin öncüsü olarak adlandırılmaktadır ve görüntüleme başlığına entegre edilmiş dört hoparlör ile bir ses sistemi kullanmaktadır (Garner, 2018). Burada görüldüğü üzere sanal gerçeklik sistemlerinin içine ses sitemleri de entegre edilmeye başlanmıştır. ...
Eğitim ve değişim…
Özleri itibari ile birbirlerinin tamamlayıcısı olan, bununla birlikte son yıllarda ilişkileri daha zengin ve çok boyutlu hale gelen iki toplumsal olgu. Ve bu iki olgu etrafında eğitim sistemleri ve öğretim süreçlerinin amaç, işlev, nitelik ve sürdürülebilirliklerine ilişkin öğretim biliminin kılcallarına kadar yayılmış olan tartışmalar… Elbette, eğitim ortaya çıktığı günden itibaren insanoğlunun uyum kabiliyetinin geliştirilmesi ile ilgilenen bir uğraşı alanı olmuştur. Bununla birlikte “değişim” ve “uyum” süreçlerinde meydana gelen anlamsal, algısal ve işlevsel başkalaşımlar eğitim anlayış ve etkinliklerimizi radikal biçimde etkilemektedir.
2020’lere kadar değişim ve içerdiği bileşenler eğitim sisteminin genelde dışında ortaya çıkmış, öğrenme-öğretme süreçleri bu değişime uyum sağlayabilecek biçimlere evrilmiştir. Oysa pandemi bizi nasıl değişeceğimizi göremediğimiz ancak değişmemiz gerektiğinin farkında olduğumuz yeni bir ortama, bir “belirsizlik” haline itmiştir. Bu ortamda “uyum”, öngörülen ya da hesap edilen değişime uyum sağlamanın ötesinde var olan kaynakları kullanarak ve ortak akıldan yararlanarak etkin çözümler üretme biçimine dönüşmüştür. Böyle bir dönüşümün zor olduğu kadar daha kalıpları zorlayan, daha çok disiplinliğe ve katılımcılığa açık, daha yaratıcı bir süreç olduğu açıktır. Kitabımız, bu bakış açılarıyla, özellikle pandemi sonrası dönemde eğitim ve değişim ilişkisini öğretim sürecinin çeşitli özneleri üzerinden ele almaktadır.
Not: Açık erişimli olarak yayımlanan kitabımıza https://depo.pegem.net/egitimvedegisimkitabi.pdf adresinden erişilebilmektedir.
... 1968 yılına gelindiğinde Ivan Sutherland'ın çalışması olan The Sword of Democles gündeme gelmiştir. Bu cihaz ağırlıklı bir taban ünitesine karşı dengelenmiş veya tavandan asılı ağır bir mekanik kol yoluyla kafa yönünü ve bakışları izleyen bir görüntüleme başlığı örneği olarak ifade edilebilir (Garner, 2018). 1970'lere gelindiğinde sanal gerçeklik sistemlerine yavaş yavaş etkileşim ögesinin de eklendiği görülmektedir. ...
... Yine 1990'ların başında piyasaya sürülen Virtuality 1000 serisi, Jonathan Waldern ve W-Industries tarafından geliştirilmiştir. Bu sistem, iletişim kurabilen ve kullanıcıların tek bir ortamı paylaşmalarını sağlayan çok oyunculu sanal gerçekliğin öncüsü olarak adlandırılmaktadır ve görüntüleme başlığına entegre edilmiş dört hoparlör ile bir ses sistemi kullanmaktadır (Garner, 2018). Burada görüldüğü üzere sanal gerçeklik sistemlerinin içine ses sitemleri de entegre edilmeye başlanmıştır. ...
Teknolojide yaşanan değişimlerin etkisinin en yaygın görüldüğü alanlardan biri kuşkusuz eğitimdir. Bu bağlamda öğretmen rolleri de son yıllarda oldukça farklılaşmış ve çeşitlenmiştir. Eğitim alanındaki birçok yeniliğin öğrenme ve öğretme süreçlerinde kullanılmasında, öğretmenler en önemli aktörler olarak görülmektedir. Bir öğretmenin niteliğini öğretmen kimliği ve öğretmen rolü yakından ilgilendirmektedir. Öğretmen kimliği, öğretmenin öğrenciler üzerindeki etkisi, okulun niteliğine olan katkısı, mesleğin profesyonel olduğu kadar sosyal yönünün de ön planda olması gibi çeşitli nedenlerle ele alındığında önemli bir özelliktir. Öğretmen kimliği, öğretmenin toplumda, sistem içinde, okulda, sınıfta, meslektaşları arasında ve en önemlisi öğrenme ve öğretme süreçlerinde oynadığı rolleri etkilemektedir. Öğretmen kimliği ile öğretmen rolü arasında birbirini etkileyen ve dönüştüren bir ilişki olduğu söylenebilir. İdeal öğretmen, uzman öğretmen, nitelikli öğretmen, mükemmel öğretmen, usta öğretmen, başarılı öğretmen gibi birçok kavram ile karşı karşıya kalmaktayız. Peki bu öğretmenler kimlerdir, hangi niteliklere sahiptirler, sınıf içinde ve dışında, sistemde ve toplum önünde rolleri nelerdir? Bu bölümde öğretmen kimliği ve öğretmen rolü arasındaki ilişki irdelenerek, teknolojinin öğrenme ve öğretme süreçlerine entegrasyonunun getirileri ile birlikte öğretmen rolünün değişimi ele alınmıştır.
... Neben der Darstellung von Unterhaltungsinhalten können mithilfe dieser Technik komplexe Simulationen mit einem hohen Grad an Immersion dargestellt werden. Dabei können in Virtual Reality Learning Environments (VRLE) (Bricken, 1991) sowohl explizite Lerninhalte, wie beispielsweise das virtuelle Nacherleben historischer Momente, als auch prozedurale Lerninhalte, wie etwa komplexe endoskopische Operationsmethoden, vermittelt werden (Garner, 2018). ...
... Our current work focuses only on the visual attention aspect of video conferencing, and a commercial software is used for audio recording and transmission. Much excellent research has been done in spatial audio [23,41] and we leave it as future work. Another promising avenue for future research is to increase the ability to support complicated hand gestures. ...
The VirtualCube system is a 3D video conference system that attempts to overcome some limitations of conventional technologies. The key ingredient is VirtualCube, an abstract representation of a real-world cubicle instrumented with RGBD cameras for capturing the 3D geometry and texture of a user. We design VirtualCube so that the task of data capturing is standardized and significantly simplified, and everything can be built using off-the-shelf hardware. We use VirtualCubes as the basic building blocks of a virtual conferencing environment, and we provide each VirtualCube user with a surrounding display showing life-size videos of remote participants. To achieve real-time rendering of remote participants, we develop the V-Cube View algorithm, which uses multi-view stereo for more accurate depth estimation and Lumi-Net rendering for better rendering quality. The VirtualCube system correctly preserves the mutual eye gaze between participants, allowing them to establish eye contact and be aware of who is visually paying attention to them. The system also allows a participant to have side discussions with remote participants as if they were in the same room. Finally, the system sheds lights on how to support the shared space of work items (e.g., documents and applications) and track the visual attention of participants to work items.
... Complex visuals improve the personal presence is VRET. A research done with regards to public speaking proved that user reacts more to animated public than to static public [10]. Thus a moving and interactive object or stimuli will immerse the user more than a static object. ...
Virtual Reality Exposure therapy has proven to be as effective as cognitive behavioral therapy with in vivo exposure [1]. Since it is an efficacious and cost effective alternative to in vivo exposure therapy, it can be offered to the clients via software packages containing educational material and self-report questionnaires considering the present state of Virtual Reality technology. This paper aims to identify design considerations and constraints, knowledge of which is highly useful in developing the applications that are accessible user-friendly, require minimal or no therapeutic contact and provide self-help solution to the inaccessibility of anxiety treatment which leads to a massive number of patients being left untreated.
... Bu bağımsız doğrudan ses modellemesine yönelik yazılımlar bir tarafa grafik odaklı VR yazılımların ses tasarım performansını arttırmaya yönelik de birçok yazılım, eklenti ve kaynak kod geliştirilmiştir. Garner bunların genel bir değerlendirmesini "Echoes of Other Worlds: Sound in Virtual Reality, Past, Present and Future" kitabında sunmuştur ancak oyun tasarımının hızlı dünyası bu değerlendirmenin belli sıklıklarda tekrar edilmesi zorunluğunu da doğurmaktadır [7]. Oyun ve VR dünyasında sıklıkla tercih edilen belli başlı ses tasarım uygulamalarından bazıları şöyle sıralanabilir; Wwise, SteamAudio, fmod, EVERTims, Pd, Google Resonance Audio, Oculus Audio SDK. ...
Bu çalışmada oyun motoru Unreal Engine 4 (UE4) ve sanal gerçeklik ortamları için ses tasarım desteği sağlayan Wwise'ın mimari akustik modelleme performansı değerlendirilmiştir. Değerlendirme Wwise Convolution Reverb ve geç yansımalara odaklanmaktadır. Son yıllarda bu amaç için birçok farklı yazılım geliştirilmesine rağmen gerçek zamanlı 3D ses modelleme, mimari akustik alanı için halen yeni bir alan olma vasfını korumaktadır. Oyun ses tasarımının gerekliliklerinin sonucunda daha çok bu alanda çalışanlar tarafından talep gören Wwise ve benzeri yazılımların mimari ve mimari akustik tasarımı için de değerlendirilmesi önümüzdeki çalışmalara ışık tutacak niteliktedir. Ses ve görsel üzerinde aynı anda çalışma imkanı veren interaktif sanal gerçeklik yazılımları bu anlamda her geçen gün daha fazla araştırmacının ilgisini çekmektedir. Bu çalışma bahsi geçen UE4 ve Wwise'ın mimari akustik performansı üzerine bir değerlendirme ile Wwise Convolution Reverb'ü inceleyen bir dizi ölçüm ve karşılaştırma sonucunu sunmaktadır. Anahtar Kelimeler: Sanal gerçeklik, grafik motoru, Wwise, Gerçek zamanlı akustik modelleme
... Indeed, recent advancements in technology may very soon change the scope (as well as the landscape) of immersive pornography as we know it (Simon and Greitemeyer 2019). VR enables individuals to take an active or passive role in alternate digital environments which offer digital escapism by submerging users in a new reality (Garner 2018). This real-life scenario demonstrates how individuals could use an alternate reality and seek new environments to fulfil their pleasure quest. ...
Virtual reality pornography is a booming branch of the adult entertainment industry. The development of human-centred technologies is reshaping pornography and opening new venues for those who seek sexual pleasure. This article investigates the progress of the continuing development of virtual reality pornography and explores both potentials and pitfalls of touring alternative realities for the fulfilment of sexual desires.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23268743.2020.1777895
... Everyday presence involves a connection with the immediate environment. Telepresence is a feeling of presence with objects (physical or virtual) that are located elsewhere, and virtual presence refers to the same feeling with computer-generated objects (Sheridan, 1992, in Garner, 2018. To turn telepresence in VR into worldly presence would require a reorientation to the VR experience through the mood of the user (Evans, 2015: 49) to accept the VR world as a 'world', in that the end result of a high degree of immersion and presence through VR would be a sense of 'worldhood' (Heidegger, 1962;Evans, 2015: 43-44). ...
... Several researchers have conducted experiments to this end, though with mixed evidence regarding behavior modification (Ahn, Bailenson, & Park, 2014;Morina, Ijntema, Meyerbröker, & Emmelkamp, 2015;Schwebel, McClure, & Porter, 2017;Theng, Lee, Patinadan, & Foo, 2015;van Loon, Bailenson, Zaki, Bostick, & Willer, 2018.). However, the evidence is clear that virtual reality experiences can evoke empathy in viewers (Garner, 2018;Janda et al., 2004;Tettegah, Taylor, Whang, Meistninkas, & Chamot, 2006) which can lead to prosocial behavior in certain contexts (van Loon et al., 2018). Data on the relevant neurological processes offer some support for this phenomenon (Gu & Han, 2007). ...
Introduction:
Bullying is a widely prevalent public health and safety issue that can have serious long-term consequences for youth. Given the limited efficacy of traditional bullying prevention programs, a need exists for novel, theoretically informed, prevention programming. Construal Level Theory provides a useful framework.
Methods:
This study evaluated a pseudo-randomized pilot trial of a virtual reality enhanced bullying prevention program among middle school students (N = 118) in the Midwest United States. Two models were proposed. The first predicts reductions in bullying behavior (traditional bullying, cyberbullying, relational aggression) at post-test, mediated by changes in empathy in the virtual reality condition compared to the control condition. The second predicts increases in school belonging and willingness to intervene as an active bystander at post-test, mediated by changes in empathy in the virtual reality condition compared to the control condition.
Results:
The virtual reality condition yielded increased empathy from pre-to post-intervention compared to the control condition. Through the mediating role of empathy, changes in the desirable directions were also observed for traditional bullying, sense of school belonging, and willingness to intervene as an active bystander, but not for cyberbullying or relational aggression.
Conclusions:
The scope and practical limitations of the virtual reality trial prevented a larger scale and more rigorous evaluation; however, results justify an expanded examination of virtual reality as a youth violence prevention tool.
... As Garner outlined [13], for sound designers lots of alternatives to increase the realism of soundscape and the perceived fidelity of audio in VR exists. Audio Source Development Kits (SDKs) produced by VR firms (e.g. ...
Architectural acoustics have a new direction as virtual acoustics. There are in literature several studies which have investigated the ways to obtain immersive acoustic environments. Beside the endeavours to achieve more successful point-based auralizations, scholars are trying to reproduce real-time immersive-3D acoustic environment. In addition, today we know that audio and visual perception cannot be analysed separately and it is a well-known fact that the visual perception is significantly augmented by matching sound stimuli. Through the different methods, this preliminary study will focus on utilization of the game engines in acoustic studies to create 3D
immersive models and to work both visual and audio dimensions. Visualization of the virtual environment is the primary purpose of the lots of game engines. Whereas they achieved serious progress on quality of visuals, they need time to attain more successful audio realism. The most leading game engines basically work with their own audio engines that provide real-time synthesis, dynamic DSP effects and physical propagation models, but their compliance with outdoor and indoor physical acoustic laws need to be verified. Nevertheless, there are interesting developed audio features especially by the middlewares like Wwise, Steam Audio and other plugins. This paper investigates these developments and the audio features of Unreal Engine 4 and its related audio tools with focus on sound propagation. Comparisons between simulated audio phenomena and physical based acoustic models are presented.
... This moves VR environments closer to a more authentic multi-sensory experience (Bartolo, Forte, and Sanders 2000;Forte 1997;Frisher and Dakouri-Hild 2002). By placing an active observer within a specific place, VR avoids the static perspective of maps and photography and creates a richer multi-sensory experience beyond just the visual with spatial sounds (Garner 2018). Mongelluzzo ...
Digital technologies enable modeling of the potential role of sound in past environments. While digital approaches have limitations in objectively rendering reality, they provide an expanded platform that potentially increases our understanding of experience in the past and enhances the investigation of ancient landscapes. Digital technologies enable new experiences in ways that are multi-sensual and move us closer toward reconstructing holistic views of past landscapes. Archaeologists have successfully employed 2D and 3D tools to measure vision and movement within cityscapes. However, built environments are often designed to invoke synesthetic experiences that also include sound and other senses. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Virtual Reality (VR) allow archaeologists to measure and explore the acoustics of ancient spaces. I employ GIS and 3D modeling o measure sound propagation and reverberation using the main civic-ceremonial complex in ancient Copán as a case study. The goal is to create a synesthetic experience to enrich our and understanding of the role sight and sound played in ancient Maya cities. For the ancient Maya, sight and sound worked in concert to create ritually charged atmospheres and architecture served to shape these experiences. I use an immersive VR headset (Oculus Rift) to integrate vision with spatial sound and sight to facilitate an embodied experience in order to: (1) examine potential locations of ritual performance and (2) determine spatial placement and capacity of participants in these events. Advisor: Heather Richards-Rissetto
Virtual reality (VR) journalism has become one of the popular formats of journalism, where people experience presence, empathy, and immersion through VR technology in digital environments. Although the term ‘virtual’ may appear to be the opposite of ‘real,’ the boundary between virtuality and reality has become blurred due to the virtual embodiment being part of reality for participants. As VR and real virtuality converge, little is known about the ethical issues in producing computer-generated imagery (CGI) immersive journalism and the viewers’ responses to CGI VR news reporting. Our study applied a concurrent mixed-method approach, including in-depth interviews with eight CGI professionals from the U.K. and a quantitative survey in Taiwan, to understand the production issues, ethical concerns, and audience perceptions toward CGI immersive journalism. Results from the interviews suggested that digital journalists need to rethink their ethical codes, particularly the representation of truth while producing news stories using CGI images and VR. Findings from the post-test survey showed that both immersive presence and interactivity in VR news resulted in a greater formation of believing and motivations to take action regarding the topic presented in the VR news.
https://repositorioaberto.uab.pt/handle/10400.2/14555
A música e a tecnologia têm experienciado, desde há séculos, uma coabitação e um desenvolvimento mútuo e constante na nossa sociedade, o qual tem possibilitado aos músicos instrumentistas, não só a oportunidade de evoluírem os seus instrumentos, como também a sua performance. No que concerne à música em específico, Irving Godt (2005) afirma que não há conhecimento de sociedade alguma que tenha existido, ou que exista, sem música. Tal afirmação espelha bem a importância desta nas sociedades, desempenhando um papel de relevância sobre vários aspetos, sejam eles de cariz artístico, festivo, fúnebre, ou noutros enquadramentos. Na realidade, a música e a tecnologia vivem numa simbiose e com uma dinâmica particular, na qual a tecnologia fornece meios para que a música evolua, mas, por sua vez, a música também vai criando necessidades e fomentando o desenvolvimento tecnológico. Inerentemente a esta evolução conjunta e consoante os espaços temporais em que acontecem, o papel dos músicos vai-se alterando espontaneamente, por adaptação. É uma destas alterações, num destes timings, que é aqui investigada, nomeadamente a influência que a média-arte digital exerceu/exerce na música, sob o ponto de vista do músico instrumentista erudito de tradição ocidental escrita e, em particular, o ponto de vista do próprio autor enquanto clarinetista. Este, que vinha já observando ampliações nas suas responsabilidades enquanto intérprete - mais propriamente por intermédio de adições cénicas, físicas, acústicas, entre outras – viu-as serem aumentadas de forma mais acentuada através da junção com os canais média digitais. Sumariando, o presente documento é o resultado investigativo da forma e das implicações que este desenvolvimento relacional trouxe aos instrumentistas. Para o efeito, foi observada e identificada a performance musical instrumental tradicional, a sua evolução mediante diversos pontos de vista entre os agentes envolvidos, a evolução notacional, a evolução conceptual, a adição tecnológica, entre outros aspetos, com o objetivo de identificar e diferenciar influências. Foram também elaborados três artefactos que explorassem ambas as áreas – média-arte digital e música –, aproveitando a formação e experiência profissional do autor enquanto instrumentista e como forma geradora de dados para investigação proposta.
The use of virtual reality (VR) has seen significant recent growth and presents opportunities for use in many domain areas. The use of head-mounted displays (HMDs) also presents unique opportunities for the implementation of audio feedback congruent with head and body movements, thus matching intuitive expectations. However, the use of audio in VR is still undervalued and there is a lack of consistency within audio-centedd research in VR. To address this shortcoming and present an overview of this area of research, we conducted a scoping review (n = 121) focusing on the use of audio in HMD-based VR and its effects on user/player experience. Results show a lack of standardisation for common measures such as pleasantness and emphasize the context-specific ability of audio to influence a variety of affective, cognitive, and motivational measures, but are mixed for presence and generally lacking for social experiences and descriptive research.
Das nur wenige Kilometer nördlich von Longyearbyen auf der anderen Seite
des Adventfjords gelegene Advent City war die erste Steinkohlemine auf
Spitzbergen, die ganzjährig in Betrieb war und bereits fünf Jahre
nach der Aufnahme der Arbeiten aufgrund mangelnder Profitabilität wieder
aufgegeben wurde. Während Teile der Siedlung seit über hundert
Jahren dem Verfall überlassen werden, wurden viele der Gebäude schon
kurz nach der Aufgabe der Bergbautätigkeit an anderer Stelle
wiederrichtet und stehen größtenteils heute noch an ihrer neuen
Position. Neben den Überresten von Gebäuden und technischen
Installationen vor Ort sowie den noch erhaltenen Holzhütten, haben sich
eine ganze Reihe von historischen Photographien erhalten, die uns ein sehr
genaues Bild der Siedlung zeigen. Aus den unterschiedlichen Quellen wurde
ein vollständiges 3D-Modell von Advent City entwickelt, das die
britische Mine zum Zeitpunkt ihres Betriebs Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts
zeigt. Dieses Modell wurde anschließend in eine Virtual Reality
Anwendung überführt, welche dem Nutzer das immersive Erleben der
Siedlung erlaubt. Wir werden in unserem Beitrag die Genese des 3D-Modells
sowie der VR-Umgebung eingehend besprechen und anschließend den Nutzen
einer derartigen digitalen Welt für die Vermittlung der Ergebnisse der
polararchäologischen Forschung Studierende, Lehrende, Schülerinnen
und Schüler sowie die interessierte Öffentlichkeit diskutieren.
This work is a thorough account of Virtual Reality's (VR) historical change from vision to commodity. The technology's manifestations are organized into the pre-Sutherland era, beginning approximately in the 18
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century, the post-Sutherland milestones of the 70s and the 80s, and the pop culture of the 80s and 90s that triggered its short-lived industrious rise, followed by a spectacular fall. Although the timeline of the evolution of the VR apparatus has been previously documented, little has been said regarding milestone continuity and how technological and market progression relate to the underlying forces that keep propelling VR's slow-burning development and cultural diffusion. Those forces aim toward the “ultimate display”; however, our analysis rejects this goal and instead examines how the VR experience has gradually developed.
This study analyses one of the most popular game engines and an audio middleware to reproduce sound according to sound propagation physics. The analysis focuses on the transmission path between the sound source and the receiver. Even if there are several ready-to-use real-time auralization platforms and software, game engines' use with this aim is a recent study area for acousticians. However, audio design needs with game engines and the limits of their basic releases require additional tools (plugins and middleware) to improve both the quality and realism of sound in virtual environments. The paper discusses the use of Unreal Engine 4 and Wwise's 3D audio production methods in a set of different test environments. It assesses their performance in regard to a commercial geometrical acoustics software. The results show that the investigated version of the game engine and its sound assets are insufficient to simulate real-world cases and that significant improvements can be achieved with use of the middleware.
With online-learning becoming the new mode of learning, providers need to understand the barriers that learners face. The objective of this study is to utilise a multi-method approach to examine the barriers that affect learner’s intention to use e-Learning services. The multi-method approach consists of qualitative semi-structured interviews of 8 participants, topic-modelling on 3227 reviews from Coursera dataset and 463 responses from an online survey for quantitative analysis. The interviews revealed themes like ‘rigid-course-structure’, ‘complexity’, ‘quality-of-facilitator’, and ‘value-addition’. The topic-modelling approach extracted themes like, ‘technique-of-teaching’, ‘language-of-speaker’, ‘course-content’, ‘privacy’, ‘payment-issues’, etc. The empirical study revealed that value [course-content (‘course-content’, ‘value-addition’) and facilitator-issues (‘quality-of-facilitator’, ‘handling-of-queries’)], tradition [trust (‘privacy concerns’, ‘authenticity’, ‘reliability’)] and risk [payment issues (‘payment-failures’, ‘refund issues’)] barriers have a notable negative impact on usage-intention. The originality of this works lies in the fact that it explores payment-failure, facilitator-quality, and course-value affecting the acceptance of e-Learning services from the innovation-resistance-theory stance utilising data from various sources (qualitative data from interviews and online reviews and quantitative survey-based data). This work has also discussed different limitations in this study and scope for future research.
This paper discusses Points Further North, a VR documentary that applies an expanded acoustemological framework to the acquisition and dissemination of audio-visual content in order to investigate a non-place that is characteristic of the Anthropocene. The project exploits the possibilities inherent in the amplification of the vibratory and electromagnetic spectra that permeate our urban environments: infrasonic/tactile elements are disseminated via wearable haptic interfaces and the electrical emissions of our technotope are sonified via the via use of electromagnetic transducers. In addition, the project explores the possibility of integrating mnemonic sound propagation as a relevant, affective component of a contingent soundscape.
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