A perceptual approach to the composition of meaning in artificial spatial audio

Abstract

This paper describes research to inform the production of spatial audio that consolidates knowledge from several disparate fields. A perceptual model is proposed, based on contemporary perception theories, as the basis for new approaches to audio spatial understanding and a new approach to the generation of artificial sound fields. A fine-grain, modular model of perception is suggested that will allow audio attributes to have perceptual significance with respect to their causal trajectories. This represents an evolution towards the construction of believable sound fields from the traditional geometric, direction based approach to sound spatialisation.