Authentic acoustics in virtual worlds

A mobile robot with a microphone array of seven microphones enables automated acoustic measurements at any position in the room. Authentic acoustics in virtual worlds: Scientists develop mobile robot for high-precision room acoustic measurements What acoustic properties do rooms have? And how can virtual sound elements be integrated as plausibly as possible into real spaces and merged with each other so that people in different locations experience their virtual communication as realistically as possible? Researchers and students of Media Technology/ Research in Media Engineering at the Electronic Media Technology Group at TU Ilmenau, led by Dr. Stephan Werner, are working on these questions relating to mixed reality (MR). Their goal: to offer a listening experience that comes as close as possible to a real scenario. As part of the " Isoperare - Isoperceptive areas in room acoustics" project, a research collaboration with Reality Labs at Meta, they have developed a system that measures room acoustics automatically and with high precision. Among other things, it can be used to further develop future-oriented applications for the Metaverse such as innovative teleconferencing systems or virtual assistance systems. Simplified acoustic simulations are generally used to recreate the acoustics of a real room for mixed reality applications. Machine learning can also be used to estimate the acoustics of a room by evaluating audio data or using optical data such as photos, videos or 3D scans to create a virtual model of the room and its acoustic properties.