| Auralization is the process
of simulating and making audible (auralizing), by electronic
or other means, the effects of playing a known reference sound
through a defined loudspeaker system in a specific space.
In other words, auralization lets you listen to how a room
and its loudspeaker system will sound even before the room
is built.
Auralization has proved to be an invaluable designer’s
tool as it adds subjective listening to the evaluation process.
It lets the user evaluate the overall sound quality and intelligibility
before construction begins and initiate any needed changes
to the room’s acoustics or to the proposed sound system
design before changes become costly.
Imagine the power of being able to let your client hear how
the acoustical treatment you are proposing will improve the
sound in his room? Or, of how much better the sound will be
with the new loudspeaker system you are proposing as a replacement
for his existing system?
Ideally, the reference sound used in the auralization will
be a dry (anechoic) audio recording; a recording not colored
by the acoustics of the room in which the recording was made.
In practice, any known source can be used as long as it is
relatively free of room coloration. For example, a male or
female voice recorder with a close-talking, noise canceling
microphone is often used.
The dry signal is then convolved (electronically mixed) with
the electro-acoustical characteristics of the room and its
associated loudspeaker system at a selected location to produce
the auralization. Auralizations can be either Mono (Monaural)
Auralizations such as the one just described or Binaural Auralizations.
Binaural Auralizations include the characteristics of human
hearing into the process and are far more realistic than Monaural
Auralizations.
EARS and EARS RT, the auralization programs associated with
EASE, are both Binaural auralization programs and both programs
produce very realistic auralizations. The flow chart below
shows the binaural auralization process. Notice the separate
right and left ear convolutions. |
Auralization
