Design of a virtual tour (journey) for teaching Room Acoustics

Cartes, G. Ingenieria en Sonido, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile, gabriel.cartes@ug.uchile.cl

Badani, C. Departamento de Sonido, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Región Metropolitana, Chile, cbadani@uchile.cl

Abstract

The development of new ways to teach different and complex topics has reached new grounds through video games. The modern state of computer processors leads to better and realistic simulations. The acoustics field is not indifferent to this. Better auralization models to represent the acoustics of different geometries have been developed. An accurate auralization model can represent the acoustics of a room and how it shapes sound. This can be used to teach acoustics concepts like Reverberation, by allowing the learner to listen to the space. Based on this state of the art, it is proposed the design of a Virtual Tour, with the main goal of teaching Reverberation and Speech Intelligibility, both fundamental concepts in Room Acoustics. It is proposed that the concepts are taught in a linear way through a selection of activities, in which the learner has to participate in their learning process, and more importantly, to listen and compare how different rooms affect sound (for example: two rooms with different kind of reverberation as from lower or higher tones are presented in the sound tour). The final product was tested for technical and pedagogical feedback, in which students of Sound Engineering gave their impressions. The results for the Tour were positive, the technical feedback allowed an improvement in performance, and the pedagogical aspects had positive reception from the students. This is reflected in the virtual characteristics of the tour and in the potential to improve and expand it to other concepts in Room Acoustics or even Psychoacoustics. It is expected that this work will lead the way for other gamification projects in other areas of knowledge.

Keywords:

Reverberation

Gamification

Virtual Trip.

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