Auralization of Urban Environments – Concepts towards New Applications
Invited paper
Institute of Technical Acoustics, RWTH Aachen University
Tuesday 2 june, 2015, 09:40 - 10:00
0.3 Copenhagen (49)
Abstract:
In times of progressive urbanization, a growing section of the human
population is exposed to noise pollution. The rising request for mobility
enlarges the problem by adding more sound sources to the acoustic environment,
e.g. due to public transportation, air traffic, private transport etc. As a
consequence, more and more individuals are affected by environmental noise and
hence a growing countermovement against large-scale projects can be observed.
In order to introduce ways to ease understanding of noise pollution effects,
auralization of virtual situations can be of great advantage. The possibility
to listen to an acoustic simulation, e.g. of a significant intervention into
the infrastructure in a metropolitan area, can be a powerful tool to inform
persons affected that is already available in an early project stage.
Therefore, auralization represents a preventive measure that can involve non-
experts to intuitively experience consequences of urban modification with
their hearing sense, and without the need of numbers and figures that are
difficult to comprehend. To bring this concept of virtual acoustic reality
into existence, some large gaps have to be overcome. This contribution will
discuss problems and potential solutions towards new applications of
auralization.