Proposal for an Interactive 3D Sound Playback Interface Controlled by User behavior

Abstract

Our study introduces an interactive 3D sound playback interface system that is controlled by the user's behavior. It consists of an Android terminal, stereo headphone, and Nintendo Wii Balance Board. Traditional binaural audio systems can only deal with simple fixed playback conditions. On the other hand, our system assumes that the user is continuously moving. When a user who is riding on the Wii Balance Board moves his/her body, binaural sounds during playback are generated according to changes in his/her center of gravity. To implement the system, we have prepared a set of twenty-four acoustic signals for embedding into the system. If the user's center of gravity corresponds with one of the twenty-four regions, an acoustic signal recorded in advance corresponding to that region is reproduced for the user. We experimentally evaluate how accurately a user can judge the position of a sound source. Experimental results prove the proposed system yielded significantly higher locational accuracy than the original binaural system. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014.