Interactive Sound

This chapter tries to trace a route that, starting from studies in ecological perception and action-perception loop theories, goes down to sound modelling and design techniques for interactive computer animation and virtual reality applications. We do not intend to provide an in-depth discussion about different theories of perception. We rather review a number of studies from experimental psychology that we consider to be relevant for research in multimodal virtual environments and interfaces, and we argue that such research needs to become more aware of studies in ecological perception and multimodal perception. The chapter starts with an analysis of relevant literature in perception, while sound modelling techniques and applications to multimodal interfaces and VR are addressed in the last part of the chapter. The technically inclined reader may turn the chapter upside-down and start reading the last sections, referring to the initial material when needed. Where necessary, we will make use of the notions about physics-based sound synthesis techniques reviewed in Chapter 8.