V i r t u a l  A u d i o  a n d  P a s t  E n v i r o n m e n t s

40 delegates attended a one-day workshop to explore multi-disciplinary approaches to audio, acoustics, and sound design, and to discover how current techniques and research might be applied specifically to heritage and related applications.
 
The workshop aimed to:

• Bring together researchers, practitioners, and professionals working in the area of audio and acoustics.
• Demonstrate audio work in the field of history, heritage and the preservation and interpretation of past environments.
• Disseminate audio work across the museum, heritage and related sectors.
• Offer networking opportunities with researchers and practitioners working in audio, acoustics and sound design. 
• Share knowledge, experience and  promotion of good practice in sound design for heritage and museums applications.
• Identify common interests, goals and future directions for research.
• Lead to focused collaborations and working parties for the development of new projects and/or research proposals.

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Context

Virtual interactive environments offer high quality graphical rendering of virtual worlds, user interaction and immersion and are highly popular in on-line gaming and similar applications such as Second Life. 

Graphical virtualization techniques have been used for some time in the fields of archaeology, history, and heritage offering better understanding and experience of past environments while also facilitating more effective user interaction.  Despite significant advances in desktop computer processing and graphics hardware, in comparison, sound design and audio processing techniques are usually quite basic and make little use of recent creative and technological developments.  

Used well, high quality music and sound design work with the imagination to evoke powerful images, recall strong memories and provide important auditory information about a virtual environment.  Such use of music and sound design techniques is now commonplace in film and are gaining a similar status in game audio.

More recently, architectural acoustic modelling and measurement techniques have developed from purely lab-based research to become hands-on applications allowing, for example, real-time walk throughs of virtual environments.  Such applications are already used in architectural consultancy and the study of heritage sites.  Of particular note is the European CAHRISMA project (Conservation of the Acoustical Heritage by the Revival and Identification of the Sinan's Mosques Acoustics ? now finished), whose main goal was to introduce and develop the concept of ?Hybrid Architectural Heritage? covering acoustic as well as more accepted visual features.

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Invited Speakers:

Dr Gui Campos, University of Aveiro, Portugal:

• Acoustic Modelling and 3D Virtual Reconstruction of a Neolithic site.

Dr Peter Rutherford, School of the Built Environment, University of Nottingham:

• Virtual acoustic reconstruction and the role of auditory and visual cues for enabling musical performance.

Professor Jian Kang and Dr. Kalliopi Chourmouziadou, School of Architecture, University of     Sheffield:

• Virtual audio in heritage performance spaces.

Dr Damian Murphy, AudioLab, University of York:

• Archaeological acoustic space measurement for convolution reverberation and auralization applications.

David Knight and Gianna Giannakopoulou, University of Southampton:

•  Opening the ears and eyes of Archaeology.

Jude Brereton, AudioLab, University of York:

• The voice, singing and performance in acoustic space.

Dr Anthony Masinton, Department of Archaeology, University of York:

• The acoustics of past spaces: Understanding sound in ecclesiastic heritage.

Dr Michael Kelly, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe:

• Building interactive audio environments using game audio tools.

Dr Jez Wells, AudioLab, University of York:

• Audio heritage - Tools and techniques for the renovation of historically
  significant recordings.

Elizabeth Blake and Dr Ian Cross, Dept. of Archaeology/Centre for Music and Science,
    University of Cambridge:

• Sound and music in prehistoric context

Dr Kenneth McAlpine, Computing & Creative Technologies, University of Abertay, Dundee.

• Sampling the past: how technology can open access to musical instrument collections

Professor Mark Edmonds, Department of Archaeology, University of York:

• First light: An archaeology of Jodrell Bank

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Now that the workshop has taken place, some of the the documents generated for the day will be kept here as a permanent record of the event and made available for download:

• Workshop Programme and Abstracts.
• Sound Tour Programme and Guide.
• Final Report.

Please address any comments regarding the contents of the above to Damian Murphy who can be contatced above.

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This site is maintained by Dr. Damian Murphy who can be contacted above.  This event is supported by the AHRC ICT Methods Network in association with SpACE-Net and EPSRC.

dtm, March 2008