The contribution of 3-D sound to the human-computer interface

Abstract

Sound inherently has a spatial quality, an ability to be localized in three dimensions. This is the essence of 3-D, or spatial, sound. A system capable of recording sounds as digitized samples and playing them back in a localized fashion was developed in the course of this research. This sound system combines special hardware and interactive software to create a system more flexible and powerful than previous systems. The spatial qualities of 3-D sound contribute to man's ability to interact with sound as data. An application which capitalized on these qualities was developed, allowing the user to interact with 3-D sound in a spatial environment. This application, called the Spatial Audio Notemaker, was not unlike a bulletin board, where the paper notes were recorded messages and the bulletin board was the user's environment. Using the Spatial Audio Notemaker, exploration into the manipulation of 3-D sound and the necessary interaction (using voice and gesture) and feedback (both visual and audio) to aid in this manipulation was accomplished.