How real is Virtual Acoustics?

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, vol. 152, pp. A150

Abstract

Recent comparisons of room-acoustic simulations and auralizations demonstrated that a high degree of realism can be achieved under certain conditions. How close the simulation can get to reality depends on the definition of the objective in general terms (authenticity or plausibility). The question is also what is the application scenario of the simulation. The goal can be to create an exact replica of a real space, a blind simulation of a future or lost space, or a demonstration of consequences of decisions during a design process. This work discusses the sources of uncertainties in Virtual Room Acoustics, the effort to be taken for achieving high realism, and suggestions for use of Virtual Acoustics in practice.

Authors 2

1. Michael Vorländer corresponding Aachen

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   IHTA, RWTH Aachen Univ., Kopernikusstr. 5, Aachen 52074, Germany, mvo@akustik.rwth-aachen.de

2. Lukas Aspoeck Aachen

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   IHTA, RWTH Aachen Univ., Aachen, NRW, Germany