Abstract
Augmented reality audio (ARA) currently follows a paradigm in which a summing stage mixes the real and virtual soundfields into a single stereo or surround sound audio stream. To date, this approach has been utilized in many mixed and augmented reality systems. While these systems can easily capture interactions, such as acoustic obstructions, between virtual objects and virtual sound sources, this approach does not provide a method for allowing mixed acoustic interactions between virtual sound sources and real objects. Acoustic obstructions, which occur when an object is placed between a sound source and a listener, are an example of an everyday acoustic phenomenon which must be incorporated by a system if it aims to provide a truly realistic sonic experience. In mixed reality environments, the modeling of obstructions between real objects and virtual sources requires several stages. First, the object from the real world must be tracked and modeled in the virtual space. Once a virtual model of the real object has been rendered, the acoustic effects must be simulated using computational methods. One example which demonstrates the need for such a technology is the acoustic obstruction caused when the user's hands move an object between virtual sound sources and the ears in a headphone-based system. This proposed paradigm for mixed reality audio, which enables interactions between real objects and virtual sources, can be implemented in any number of ways. This thesis explores one possible impleÂmentation from end-to-end by using an inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensor for positional-tracking and custom scripting within the Unity engine to model the acoustic effects.