Investigation of immersive audio technologies and workflows

Research Student: Marcela Rada
Supervisor: Dr Enzo De Sena
Supervisor: Dr Russell Mason
Supported by: TECHNE

Start date: 2023
End date: 2027

Project Outline

The project will investigate immersive audio technologies and workflows, to determine the state of the art and to explore the range of methodologies and working practices used by leading practitioners. This will uncover a plethora of techniques and procedures that will be shared widely amongst existing practitioners as well as with students and others wishing to learn about this type of production.

The outcomes of this research will also reveal the limitations of immersive audio technology. It is already known that there are difficulties with translating mixes between loudspeakers and headphones, and that different developers’ rendering algorithms can cause differing perceived results. It is important to investigate these factors more closely and others arising from the research, to determine how technology limitations and differences influence the choices made in the production workflow.

The research will also examine the effectiveness and efficacy of these methodologies and working practices, drawing on expert input and experimentation to determine the relative benefits, disadvantages, opportunities, and limitations of each. Through this process, an optimal (or set of optimal) techniques will be determined, that again will be shared as recommended practice with students and practitioners in the form of a textbook. The ultimate goal of this project is to develop an educational tool that can be used to develop/design undergrad courses with a focus on spatial audio.