Final Thesis

Listening test on acoustic immersion in virtual reality

Bachelor Thesis of Lian Esthefany Gomez De Pasquale

A realistic virtual reproduction of a room acoustic scene deeply relies on the accuracy of the used room model and the specified boundary conditions, in particular the absorption coefficients. The determination of the absorption coefficients is usually a challenge, in spite of the multiple available methods for its obtaining. A standardized method estimates the absorption coefficient of random incidence of a material's sample by performing an acoustic measurement when placing it in a reverberation chamber, and comparing the results with those of another measurement of the empty chamber. As this method has some drawbacks and limitations, innovative approaches have been proposed that use an acoustic simulation of the room and modify the input parameters until a match is found for an acoustic measurement of the room of the identical situation. This work presents, analyzes and compares the results obtained through the methods described when they are applied to different sample layouts, in shape and size, both in diffuse and non-diffuse sound fields. In addition, the accuracy of the results obtained through these methods is tested by altering the input parameters of the model of the simulated scenarios.