Virtual reality (VR) technology has been attracting huge interests from various industries because of its variety of potential applications. While typical VR system provides users with visual information through head mounted displays (e.g. goggles), acoustics VR is the “sound” version of VR technology which allows users to virtually experience various acoustic environments without visiting the actual sites. One of the primary contents projected under acoustics VR is speech as the technology could be used for various applications involving speech communication such as gaming, virtual meetings, education and so on. However, our speech perception, i.e. how easy/difficult to understand speech, in acoustics VR is not well understood, which could be a roadblock for potential applications.
Previous Part4 projects have implemented various state-of-the-art acoustics VR technologies and investigated the difference in speech perception between implementations. These studies have found that the accuracy of replicating the speech perception in real world was mainly affected by how the acoustics of the real world environment was recorded. The project in 2024 will focus on this aspect and explore the sound recording technique that will deliver an accurate replication of speech perception under acoustics VR.
Students suitable for this project would be interested in acoustics and/or digital signal processing as well as various aspects of human auditory perception. Students will have opportunities to experience the state-of-the-art acoustics VR technologies installed in the acoustics laboratory, learn their mechanisms, and contribute to improving their performance in real world applications.
The supervisor is leading the Communication Acoustics Lab (CAL) at the Acoustics Research Centre. To see how this project is related to the research conducted by the CAL, visit the website from this link: http://cal.auckland.ac.nz.
Undergraduate
As this project requires fundamental knowledge in digital signal processing, at least one of the group members must have passed MECHENG370 Electronics and Signal Processing. Due to the nature of the project, it is offered only to Mechatronics students.
Taking MECHENG726: Acoustics for Engineers (Part4 elective offered in S2) would help students understand the theories and techniques useful for the project (enrolment is NOT a requirement).
Acoustics Lab (City 422.154, Lab)