title: Evaluation of a low-cost 3D sound system for immersive virtual reality training systems.
abstract: Since Head Mounted Displays (HMD), datagloves, tracking systems, and powerful computer graphics resources are nowadays in an affordable price range, the usage of PC-based "Virtual Training Systems" becomes very attractive. However, due to the limited field of view of HMD devices, additional modalities have to be provided to benefit from 3D environments. A 3D sound simulation can improve the capabilities of VR systems dramatically. Unfortunately, realistic 3D sound simulations are expensive and demand a tremendous amount of computational power to calculate reverberation, occlusion, and obstruction effects. To use 3D sound in a PC-based training system as a way to direct and guide trainees to observe specific events in 3D space, a cheaper alternative has to be provided, so that a broader range of applications can take advantage of this modality. To address this issue, we focus in this paper on the evaluation of a low-cost 3D sound simulation that is capable of providing traceable 3D sound events. We describe our experimental system setup using conventional stereo headsets in combination with a tracked HMD device and present our results with regard to precision, speed, and used signal types for localizing simulated sound events in a virtual training environment.
authors.affiliation: California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology, Irvine 92697-2800, USA. kdorr@uci.edu
authors.forename: Kai-Uwe
authors.initials: KU
authors.lastname: Doerr
authors.forename: Holger
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Rademacher
authors.forename: Silke
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Huesgen
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Kubbat
mesh_terms: D000162:Acoustics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D001296:Audiovisual Aids; D003194:Computer-Assisted Instruction / Q000191:economics / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D017753:Ecosystem; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D012984:Software; D013016:Sound; D013017:Sound Localization; D014584:User-Computer Interface