A portable augmented/virtual reality auralisation tool for consumer-grade devices with companion desktop application

Auralisation is the technique of presenting realistic acoustic scenarios to interested parties, through simulation using appropriately processed audio signals, without the need for the scenario to be physically constructed. Current state-of-the-art auralisations typically require a dedicated listening room with very low reverberance, very low background noise, and a multi-channel loudspeaker setup. More recently, auralisations have been coupled with virtual reality (VR) visualisations to enhance the user experience, through use of VR head-sets. Recent computational power increases in portable consumer-grade devices, such as smart phones and tablets, have meant that rendering a 3D augmented reality (AR) or VR simulation is now a possibility on such devices. The AR/VR auralisation application, AiHear, has been developed which utilizes the portable device platform in conjunction with an off-the-shelf (calibrated) headphone setup to play back accurate auralisation audio. An Ai-Hear companion desktop application enables rapid creation and modification of auralisation scenarios, and allows the audio and visuals to be previewed before they are imported onto the portable device. This paper looks at some of the technical aspects of successfully implementing an AR/VR auralisation application for use on a low-cost consumer-grade platform.