WHAT
IS VIRTUAL AUDIO?
In a few years, when you watch a movie at a theater, you will be hearing
an unbelievably realistic sound which will transport you right into the movie (so to speak.) This technology is available,
(although in limited quantity) and the realism can be experienced right now through Centerpointe Technologies. They are using
this technology for their meditation CDs. Also, bands are recording their CDs using Virtual Audio Technology. Virtual Audio
is a new cutting edge process of encoding audio in three dimensions, passively or interactively. Virtual Audio requires no
special decoding equipment and provides a very accurate model of our hearing process.
Virtual Audio is so accurate that the listener cannot distinguish Virtual Audio recorded sound from reality. Playback
can be experienced on stereo or surround speakers or standard headphones.
The Selective Hearing Process:
In the field of audio, the selective hearing process is fundamental to stress-relief. The selective hearing process in the
human auditory system is the ability of the brain to tune into audio cues and tune out unwanted audio cues in the listener’s
environment. Selective hearing means listening only to audio cues that the listener wants to hear and not to those he does
not want to hear, all at the same time. Sometimes called “the cocktail effect”, the selective hearing process
can be conscious or subliminal.
When recording with normal recording technology, the selective hearing
process is lost. The human brain can no longer selectively hear. The brain will try very hard to distinguish individual audio
cues or try to break down the basic components of the audio cues, but will be unsuccessful. Normal recording methods do not
encode the three-dimensional spatial cues necessary for the brain to carry out the selective hearing process . The brain will
be unable to pull apart or selectively hear different component audio cues. The exception being that, if the volume of a specific
audio cue is very loud, the brain will then be able to perceive the louder sound. Cues that are the same approximate volume
will all blend in together.
Since the brain is trying very hard to decipher different sounds unsuccessfully, a type of stress is induced.
The medium of standard audio technology itself actually induces stress.This stress will inhibit
the listener from being emotionally involved with the audio cues optimally. With the use of Virtual Audio, the natural phenomenon
of selective hearing is retained in the recording process.
Numerous audio cues that are moving in a sound field which has been recorded using normal audio recording techniques can become
confusing to the brain since the listener cannot selectively hear specific sounds. When using Virtual Audio technology, the
listener can selectively hear many sounds, stationary or moving without confusion. Sound encoded in Virtual Audio enable the
human brain to do what it normally does in nature: to selectively hear various component audio cues in the listening environment.
Virtual Audio encoded material inherently contains much more information to be processed by the human brain than normal audio.
The result is greatly enhanced communication and emotional response from the recording when using Virtual Audio technology.
When recording the sounds of nature or music, the use of the Virtual Audio
process is very important, and in fact, fundamentally necessary for relaxation, meditation and the relief of stress.
Mary Marshall
Here is some Very Cool Engineering.
Don't
forget to turn your sound on, this is almost unbelievable. See how all of the balls wind up in the catcher cones. This incredible
machine was built as a collaborative effort between The Robert M. Trammell Music Conservatory and the Sharon Wick School of
Engineering at the University of Iowa.
Amazingly, 97 per cent of the machines' components came from John Deere
Industries and Irrigation Equipment of Bancroft, Iowa. That's right, FARM EQUIPMENT!
It took the team a combined 13,029 hours of set-up time, alignment, calibration, and tuning before filming this video
but as you can see, it was well worth the effort.
It is now on display
in the Matthew Gerhard Alumni Hall at the University and is already slated to be donated to the Smithsonian Institute.
[The
actual device in this video actually does not exist. It is from a DVD produced by Animusic. The Smithsonian & Gerhard
Alumni Hall tales are unfortunately the fruits of someone's imagination. It's still real cool.]
