suzumushi released SoundObject v2.0

SoundObject creates a binaural sound with the senses of three-dimensional sound localization from a monaural acoustic source and its positional information. It supports headphones-based as well as stereo speakers-based 3D spatial sound.

Conventional three-dimensional binaural sound processors implement sound localization with the convolution of an acoustic source and head-related impulse response (HRIR) that represents scattering by the head. Since the convolution consumes a large amount of computational resource, SoundObject assumes that scattering by a head consists of scattering by a rigid sphere and pinnae (earlobes), then enables sound localization with simplified sphere and pinna scattering effect filters.

And in many cases, conventional convolution-based binaural sound rarely creates a sense of front distance, while SoundObject enables it by reflected waves in a reverberation room.

Furthermore, Doppler effect inevitably results from a moving acoustic source. Generally, sine waves whose frequency difference is 0.3% are distinguishable as different sounds. This fact implies that the recognizable Doppler effect results from an acoustic source whose speed exceeds approximately 1m/s. Since it is never high speed, SoundObject constantly adds Doppler effect when an acoustic source is moving.

SoundObject is provided as a VST 3 plug-in for digital audio workstations (DAW) and supports 44.1KHz, 48KHz, and 96KHz sampling rates. OS environment is 64bit Windows 10. Refer to the following document for details.