Convolving the Convoluted: Acoustigrammetry for Immersive Virtual Reality

Alley J. Convolving the Convoluted: Acoustigrammetry for Immersive Virtual Reality. In: AVARIG 2026: Audio for Virtual and Augmented Reality and Immersive Games. Audio Engineering Society; 2026.pp. 487:1-9. Available from: https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=23379

@inproceedings{Alley2026_23379,
  author = {Alley, Justin},
  title = {{Convolving the Convoluted: Acoustigrammetry for Immersive Virtual Reality}},
  booktitle = {AVARIG 2026: Audio for Virtual and Augmented Reality and Immersive Games},
  pages = {487:1-9},
  year = {2026},
  month = jun,
  publisher = {Audio Engineering Society},
  url = {}
}

TY  - CPAPER
TI  - Convolving the Convoluted: Acoustigrammetry for Immersive Virtual Reality
AU  - Alley, Justin
T2  - AVARIG 2026: Audio for Virtual and Augmented Reality and Immersive Games
SP  - 1
EP  - 9
M1  - Paper 487
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/06/30
UR  - https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=23379
PB  - Audio Engineering Society
LA  - en
AB  - The general practice for creating empirically informed interactive models of multivolume acoustic spaces is to discretely sample emitter-receiver pair positions. This paper outlines a new approach which instead involves the continuous 3-dimensional sampling of acoustic spaces, much as is done with 3D visual spaces in photogrammetry. To achieve this result, a first-of-its-kind consolidated ambisonic impulse response capturing apparatus has been designed and built. This apparatus combines a 3rd-order ambisonic microphone array with a 2nd-order ambisonic loudspeaker array and is designed to be moved through a space with maximal ease. AD/DA conversion, playback, and recording are all handled on a central compute platform. In parallel, a software workflow has been developed which can be implemented in Unreal Engine, as well as other game engines. To solve general issues of spatial audio in game engines, a custom encoding and decoding framework has been implemented. Then, to map the continuous ambisonic impulse response onto a virtual space, a spline mirroring the sampling path is drawn through the space. On the DSP side, an impulse response is extracted from any arbitrary point along the spline by way of the Common-Slope Model for coupled spaces. Future work for better addressing early reflections is explored. Additionally, a special use case for visualizing acoustic energy in architectural acoustics is described.
ER  -