Qualitative evaluation of media device orchestration for immersive spatial audio reproduction

Francombe, J; Woodcock, JS; Hughes, RJ; Mason, R; Franck, A; Pike, C; Brookes, T; Davies, WJ; Jackson, P; Cox, TJ; Fazi, F; Hilton, A

Abstract

The challenge of installing and setting up dedicated spatial audio systems can make it difficult to deliver immersive listening experiences to the general public. However, the proliferation of smart mobile devices and the rise of the Internet of Things mean that there are increasing numbers of connected devices capable of producing audio in the home. \Media device orchestration" (MDO) is the concept of utilizing an ad hoc set of devices to deliver or augment a media experience. In this paper, the concept is evaluated by implementing MDO for augmented spatial audio reproduction using object-based audio with semantic metadata. A thematic analysis of positive and negative listener comments about the system revealed three main categories of response: perceptual, technical, and content-dependent aspects. MDO performed particularly well in terms of immersion/envelopment, but the quality of listening experience was partly dependent on loudspeaker quality and listener position. Suggestions for further development based on these categories are given.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jun 18, 2018
• Deposit Date: Jul 10, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 10, 2018
• Journal: Journal of the Audio Engineering Society
• Print ISSN: 1549-4950
• Publisher: Audio Engineering Society
• Volume: 66
• Issue: 6
• Pages: 414-429
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.17743/jaes.2018.0027
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.17743/jaes.2018.0027
• Related Public URLs: http://www.aes.org/journal/