Design Engineering PhD Scholarship 10

Perceptually-informed Design and Validation of Spatial Audio for Virtual Acoustics

Abstract
Spatial audio is essential for creating authentic virtual environments, significantly enhancing plausibility and interactivity. However, researchers lack a unified methodology for producing realistic, navigable virtual acoustic scenes due to listener variability, disparate signal processing strategies, and hardware constraints. This research investigates efficient, perceptually-optimised techniques for virtual acoustic scene rendering. We will evaluate current and novel binaural rendering methods through human trials and assess their ecological validity in multimodal evaluation contexts. This project will enable the design of the next generation of virtual acoustic devices, which could be employed in fields such as gaming, virtual reality, telecommunication, assistive technologies, and more.

How to Apply 
Please contact Prof. Lorenzo Picinali if you are interested in applying for this project. 

For more information on submitting a PhD application, please consult our application pages here. When you submit your application, please cite this project title in the 'how you are planning to fund your PhD' section.