Spatial audio and the possibility of interacting with the audio environment is thought to increase listeners' attention to details in a soundscape. This work examines if interactive 3-D audio enhances listeners' ability to recall details in a soundscape. Nine different soundscapes were constructed and presented in either mono, stereo, 3-D, or interactive 3-D, and performance was evaluated by asking factual questions about details in the audio. Results show that spatial cues can increase attention to background sounds while reducing attention to narrated text, indicating that spatial audio can be constructed to guide listeners' attention.

Authors: Schmidt, Mikkel; Schwartz, Stephen; Larsen, Jan
Affiliations: Technical University of Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark; SoundTales, Helsingør, Denmark(See document for exact affiliation information.)
AES Convention: 133 (October 2012) Paper Number: 8780
Publication Date: October 25, 2012
Subject: Spatial Audio Over Headphones

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