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Audio Animation


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Animated, 3-dimensional pictures or "sound shapes" you see with your ears. A computer can be used to modify audio signals to create animated sound shapes you see in every direction around you at once. Can be used in music, movies, television, video games and as a mobility aid for the blind.
_Koda_

28 responses // Audio Animation

  • i think that tchnology is out already---its called dolby pro-logic 7.1 surround sound
    facultykev
  • This process creates pictures, like a cube, a flower or a house -- images you see with your ears. Surround sound only positions sounds around the room. I am working on a longer version with more technical info and at least one little piece of 3-D video. Have another look on Monday.
    _Koda_
  • interesting concept. I have to wonder, would using 7.1 surround instead of stereo make it any "better"? define the pictures more clearly?
    gregory651
  • The Audio Animation process requires controlling the way sound waves strike the ear drums in a very precise way. When speakers are used, either stereo or surround sound, the listener would need to be positioned in a very specific location in order to hear the processed sounds correctly. If you turned your head it would wreck everything. That's why headphones are the most practical presentation method. Even then the ideal situation would involve a method allowing each individual listener to calibrate the processing to match their particular hearing response.

    Other technical info: The resolution of the images will be 1 location point about every 2 degrees. The just noticeable distance at the forehead is about 3/8ths of an inch apart, and at 10 feet sounds must be nearly 1 foot apart. The rotating cude shown in the video could actually be made to occur INSIDE your head (having it explode there would be cool :) Percussive sounds are easiest to locate because they have distinct frontal waves, and the more high frequency content, the better. For example, the best way to create the "tunnel" effect might be to process the sound coming from a high hat played very, very fast.
    _Koda_
  • [quote from: facultykev]

    i think that tchnology is out already---its called dolby pro-logic 7.1 surround sound

    # posted by facultykev on 1 apr 2006 @ 6:54pm

    [end quote]

    Dont quote me on this one but dont bats fly by sound "they use sound rather than sight to navigate. This method of navigation is know as echolocation and it is similar in principle to the sonar " from link some blind people use sound to know how far things are from them and they have created pictures with their ears ever since.
    My point? surround sound acomplishes that already when you are playing a computer game(with surround sound) and you hear foot steps behind you, the first reaction is to turn around. It was a neet idea back in the '70s.

    I mean no harm in my post but no GL here :(
    dondiego
  • ;)
    tete_art
  • [quote from dondiego]

    "you are playing a computer game(with surround sound) and you hear foot steps behind you, the first reaction is to turn around."

    What did you hear? Foot steps. What would you hear with Audio Animation? Foot steps, and a ten foot tall monster opening and closing it's mouth as it pulls out a sword and prepares to cut you in half -- all happening behind you, you "seeing" every detail without having to turn your head to see it.

    Surround sound can not do that. Nor can it enable you to haer sound coming from 20 feet beyond the walls of your room.

    Bats, dolphins and whales all use echolocation and perceive a 3-dimensional radar like sound image of their environment. Audio Animation will result in similar perceptions for humans, but the environment would be generated by a computer. Mobility aids for the blind would convert video and range sensing info into echolocation like sound shapes, but the video would also pick up brightness/contrast (in addition to distance) so things like house numbers and traffic lights can be perceived.
    _Koda_
  • I don't know if this will help some people out there to understand the concept that Koda is describing here, but I'll try anyway.
    An amazing phenomenon is that of dolphins and pregnant women. Dolphins can "see" the foetus because their sonar goes beneath the skin. Why they are attracted to the unborn is still a mystery but it is a fact that they are.
    Koda's audio animation would be similar in that it would allow you to perceive forms in space with your ears and this is totally different from perceiving sound in space which is what Dolby or any other Surround sound is all about.
    I believe whales and dolphins still have much to teach us, and this may be one way of stepping closer to how they perceive the "natural" environment.
    It could lead us, the arrogant top-of-the-ladder human animals on this planet, to a totally new understanding of who we are, just as the astronomers, 500 years ago, initiated a total upheaval in European thought by stating that the Earth revolves round the sun and not vice versa.
    Without this new way of thinking, Columbus would never have set sail.
    This may sound somewhat grandiose, but I do believe that Audio Animation, if not restricted to stupid video games, could have a huge impact on human perception.
    To take "science fiction" to its limits, why not envisage a time in the future when humans with electronic implants (cyborgs) and dolphins could communicate their perceptions?
    If you think I'm stretching things too far, just remember that without sci-fi, you wouldn't even be reading this!
    I don't know if I'm doing Koda a favor or an injustice by commenting in this way. If you have the kind of money he needs to put his ideas into action, I hope you'll send him a line or two.
    Wouldn't you like to know what the unborn child and the dolphin have to say to each other? I know I would.

    Tete_art
    tete_art
  • cool idea, but what's stopping you now?
    RiverWind59
  • Very cool! Greenlight!
    thedaletimes
  • That's really awesome! Green lighted!
    thegrrraue
  • This was cool.Very unique and creative idea. The fun things science can do for us ;) Green light
    kiukle
  • Koda is talking about psychoacoustics guys, not to be confused with surround sound. Surround sound could not consistently or accurately present the precise frequency detail necessary for this, especially due to varied listening environments. In fact, this effect that Koda presents is the very reason that surround sound often fails to immerse the listener; the listener becomes aware that he is not actually in Pearl Harbor/Saigon/wherever because the brain localizes the surround effects as coming from a speaker as a point source. The effectiveness of surround sound for movies has some to do with visual cues, a lot to do with equipment calibration, and a lot do with the listener accepting this space as a temporary reality.

    What this effect would essentially be doing is mimicking the interaction of sound waves with your physical head and ear as they would be perceived from a particular direction in space; recreating timing differences and timbral pattern.

    Determining how far away a sound source is is a matter of how the ear receives direct sound and environmental reflections from a source. You can infer the size and shape of a room based on the timing of these reflections and their direction of arrival.

    Headphones, like Koda said, would be most effective medium for audio animation. Of course, different pairs of headphones could vary in character, but the brain is adept at detecting timbral differences based on its environment. In other words, the brain can understand a sound behind you based on a sound in front of you, or even the natural sound of the space (the headphones in this case).
    kbshowle
  • Koda is talking about psychoacoustics guys, not to be confused with surround sound. Surround sound could not consistently or accurately present the precise frequency detail necessary for this, especially due to varied listening environments. In fact, this effect that Koda presents is the very reason that surround sound often fails to immerse the listener; the listener becomes aware that he is not actually in Pearl Harbor/Saigon/wherever because the brain localizes the surround effects as coming from a speaker as a point source. The effectiveness of surround sound for movies has some to do with visual cues, a lot to do with equipment calibration, and a lot do with the listener accepting this space as a temporary reality.

    What this effect would essentially be doing is mimicking the interaction of sound waves with your physical head and ear as they would be perceived from a particular direction in space; recreating timing differences and timbral pattern.

    Determining how far away a sound source is is a matter of how the ear receives direct sound and environmental reflections from a source. You can infer the size and shape of a room based on the timing of these reflections and their direction of arrival.

    Headphones, like Koda said, would be most effective medium for audio animation. Of course, different pairs of headphones could vary in character, but the brain is adept at detecting timbral differences based on its environment. In other words, the brain can understand a sound behind you based on a sound in front of you, or even the natural sound of the space (the headphones in this case).
    kbshowle
  • Audio is always a blank canvas when I produce.
    GL

    Please check out my pod
    Any Dad2
    richar
  • Really interesting topic!
    GL

    ,V,,
    Southernacho
  • That is Cool...you need to make a new pod with the
    sound to diplay how it works, the idea that is generated lets you wonder too much. and I know that you dont have the means to make it the way it was intended. but you could use regular equipment just to demonstrate.(Maybe)
    ZanvanCole
  • Really cool concept. The animation really helps to sell it. I also think the few VFX flourishes really add a lot. Great job! GL
    PatrickHJohnson
  • cool
    when I play disc golf, I see the the disc flying in slow motion, curving, floating and banging the chains; all before i even throw the disc....
    hotlineharry
  • Neat! GL.
    videogeek
  • GL Interesting concept.

    Check out Sister Beatrice Explores. She have much to say about sound shape art.
    DavidGeorge
  • Needs more graphics and less talk about theory
    calverto
  • Is this really that much different than Surround Sound that has been around for years? (i.e. Dolby and THX)
    jmathew
  • Very cool idea!
    MillionTreeMan
  • I disagree about the "talkiness" of this pod. I'm interested to know what Koda is talking about, why he thinks this will work, and how it could be done. Having said that, though, I also think it's important to identify the speaker early onscreen: a name, his occupation, some way to contextualize his theory. Also, the graphics are charming, but I'd like to see more meat. Is this being actively worked on or is it still just theoretical? Because if it's being actively pursued (by Koda, I assume) I'd like to see his lab, his equipment, his models, and so on. No GL from me yet, but only because I think there's a very cool angle to this pod that isn't being fully explored. I'll keep watching this space though, because I think with some beefing up this would be SUPER.
    ECagle
  • Now is the time to do this, especially with video games being such a huge industry. This could be the next big thing...it would help immerse the gamer even more! Very cool.
    hundleyjared
  • Surround sound is used for a reason. Because it makes the "3d effect" more realiasic. this method is basicly used already anyways
    soundman
  • I love it, if i had the money id pay for you to make it happen. As the video was posted a while back and considering changes in technology prices how much do you think it would cost to implement today?
    swankoid

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