Immersive Communications Environment adds spatial dimension to in-game audio

Although we some may scoff at any research that won't directly lead to a "cure for cancer," the less judgmental may appreciate a new technology being developed by Australian engineers that promises to add a spatial dimension to in-game audio. Called the Immersive Communications Environment, this bit of code from the Smart Internet Technology Cooperative Research Centre maps voices and sounds from MMORPGs so that players can gauge their general direction using just headphones or stereo speakers, and even adjusts audio volume to reflect a sound source's virtual distance from the listener. Besides helping players communicate with teammates or figure out that they're getting shot in the back a little faster, the ICE software could also be employed in the business world, where it would give teleconference participants a more accurate sense of their remote colleagues' activities.

[Thanks, Kaius]

[floydcash @ May 21st 2006 9:19PM]

Nice to know people out there still have cancer. At least if I am playing online with one I can now hear what part of their living room they died in.

[karmaghost @ May 21st 2006 9:52PM]

Um, did i miss something? Hasn't simulated 3D sound using stereo speakers been around for a long time?

[Bard @ May 21st 2006 10:00PM]

#4 ..This is a little different. Instead of "simulating" a 3D environment with sound, this application will calculate elements such as the distance from your location in a point in space to, say, a brick wall. Then if I understand some of the stuff that I looked up via Dogpile after reading this article, it takes into accounts environmental and physical variables (such as a stone or wood wall, volume of sound, distance, etc). THEN the program can simulate an accurate echo of a sound off that element within the artifical environment.

I can see this having not just an impact in video games, but also in archeticture (acoustical engineering), training sims of all types, and even in police and security fields (taking raw data and runing a sim that way you can REALLY determine if the witness actually heard THAT shot at where they were standing and so forth)

[Charles @ May 21st 2006 10:19PM]

*Everyone* in game entertainment is working on environmental sound; everyone has its own API.

*No-one* has the answer simply because who would want to buy a Fast Pentium *and* a fast Graphic Processor *and* fast Audio Processor?
Ok< I know all of you would jump on it.

In any case, serisously nothing really new here (after all you all have EAX sound-cards), just a battle od API and standards and of press-releases.

[cracka @ May 21st 2006 11:04PM]

OMG i bet his computer has integrated graphics!11!!@!1!!!1juan!111one

[furtim @ May 21st 2006 11:19PM]

Yes, but will it cure cancer?

[omg @ May 21st 2006 11:51PM]

umm... that black thing in the right lower corner looks like a penis...

[greatslack @ May 22nd 2006 12:34AM]

that guy looks like an geeky version of patrick swayze, plus he can play without touching the controls! Hmm... must be using a bot...

[Moordryd @ May 22nd 2006 1:22AM]

"...the ICE software could also be employed in the business world, where it would give teleconference participants a more accurate sense of their remote colleagues' activities."

So, when we're teleconferencing, we can tell if Robert is performing "oral duties" to the boss under the table?

No thanks!

[Camperton @ May 22nd 2006 1:51AM]

No, he looks like a geeky version of Han Solo at the Falcon gun turret in epIV.

[MooNKnighT @ May 22nd 2006 2:08AM]

I know it's not the same thing but still worth a listen http://www.2loop.com/hsound.html I think Bard is spot on

[bogphanny @ May 22nd 2006 2:35AM]

I see your Patrick Swayze, and raise you a Tom Cruise

[Bobbs @ May 22nd 2006 3:07AM]

Big deal, this is already part of the EAX 5.0 standard that is incorporated in the X-Fi soundcards.

[Aaron @ May 22nd 2006 3:20AM]

Wait, you could use your headphones to hear where the cancer cells are, then use your computer to shoot them! As long as you don't take your hands off the keyboard like that guy in the picture. Wtf is he doing?

[slyecho @ May 22nd 2006 4:46AM]

"Great shot, kid! That was one in a million!"

[jo @ May 22nd 2006 5:19AM]

#1, you haven?t heard Klipsch sound until you get into their reference line. RF-82?s are where there at. ;)

[Marian @ May 22nd 2006 5:22AM]

Might not cure cancer, but could have some great implications for allowing blind users to navigate more effectively.

[jon @ May 22nd 2006 5:24AM]

This is called binaural sound...its nothing really new...

http://www.binaural.com/binfaq.html

It?s really creepy hearing binaural recordings with a nice pair of headphones. You can hear sounds in precise points in space; you could swear it?s real.

[Keija @ May 22nd 2006 6:09AM]

i'd really like to see a technology which allows that only people (friend or foe) standing near you can hear you!(by still having the option to talk to the team) .. that would make things a lot more realistic and fun

[geoff @ May 22nd 2006 6:09AM]

any1 else think mthat this would be better if he was playing riogue squadron cause the poor bloke sure looks like harrison ford lol

[oshean @ May 22nd 2006 9:57AM]

I see your Patrick Swayze, watch you fold on that Tom Cruise, and raise you a Kurt Russell.

[nemi @ May 22nd 2006 11:05AM]

That screen shot would be Wolfenstien Enimey tertory, playign the Desert Oasis level and using a flame thrower.

[Asher69 @ May 22nd 2006 12:10PM]

Man... and all I've got in my hand is an Earnest Borgnine and a pair of Gene Hackmans...

[freepimpc @ May 22nd 2006 2:04PM]

That weapon looks like a nob. lol.

[Marc Mayor @ May 22nd 2006 2:40PM]

This looks cool, or sounds cool should I say.