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The 'Sp.A.T.S.' Project
The Spatial Audio Tracking System (SpATS) project, developed in conjunction with Conrado De Farias, Xiao Yu Hu and Pablo Herrera, aimed to produce a prototype of an auditory guidance and information delivery system which employed a software engine that spatialized and delivered binaural audio through headphones that was variable depending upon the position and orientation of a user or users, giving the impression of an augmented real-time audio soundscape that adapted to and tracked the position of the user through space.
The software used greatly simplified averaged readings of what are known as 'Head Related Transfer Functions' in order to achieve its effect, principally the HRTF known as 'Interaural Time Delay'. Later builds also included basic modelling of reverberation and reflections in order to suggest the size and characteristics of the example room.
The project also involved developing content suitable for the system, in order to showcase it in the best possible light. Content was developed for the use of SpATS as an audio guide within one area of the Museum of Scotland. The area included a mural of the declaration of Arbroath, which was associated with a recording of a historical linguist speaking the poem 'the Bruce' in its original period dialect, a recording of a Clarsach harp of the period, a stone monument for which a stonemason chipping away was recorded, and a recording of a fire on the beach to show the importance and strength of the elements in peoples' lives at the time. It was planned to introduce triggered and mobile sound sources at a later stage - imagine tigers aurallly leaping out at you as you turn the corner and steam trains passing by on a higher floor!
Click here to download a .pdf describing how the software works
Click here to download the SpATS standalone application and sound files for Mac OSX
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Potential Applications of SpATS
● Museum guide – as locator, to deliver contextual sound, for location appropriate information dissemination, atmospheric augmentation and safety instruction
● Other heritage industry – stately homes, castles, parliament buildings etc.
● Tourism – guides to cities, monuments, galleries, language etc
● Orientation devices for:
- exhibitions and conferences
- unfamiliar or dangerous surroundings
- business trips
- airports and stations/transport depots
- uses for the visually impaired
● Libraries - book/item locator
● Architectural acoustic planning
● Immersive environments - gaming, alternate reality, role-play, paintball, Laserquest, training
● Educational/training - historical recreation - customised interactive visits
● Installations - art/commercial
● Simulation for rehearsal - opera singers etc
● Shopping environments
● Personal surround experience
What is currently missing from the project is time and funding to implement the tracking using RFID/ Bluetooth, GPS and imaging or wireless tracking means, or perhaps more obvious video tracking techniques; though options for these were considered in some detail.
