In developing the app, we first prototyped with the augmented reality view (left), then added user interface elements (centre), and finally found the audio performance to be much better when using a static 360 image instead, especially with many sound sources (right). However, there were some stumbling blocks: the experimental WebXR API is not yet available on Apple devices, and enabling the camera view on our Android phones tended to interfere with the performance of the audio rendering. We could quickly create an explorable 3D scene visualising the sound effect positions on top of the real world camera view and render them to a binaural headphone signal. We decided to work in the browser and to prototype ideas from the workshop quickly we relied on existing open-source software: Google's Resonance library for dynamic spatial audio rendering and the AFrame toolkit for describing relatively simple virtual and augmented reality scenes. We created a prototype implementing these features and using visual augmented reality a visual representation of the sounds in the mix was layered on top of the camera view of the space (so-called "magic window" AR). Additionally, the participants expressed a desire to customise and create their own soundscapes, leading us to add interaction with the soundscape to our set of desired features. These features include binaural sound and visual augmented reality to enhance immersion pre-curated soundscapes to deliver easily accessed relaxation and the ability to share a link directly to soundscapes to improve participants' sense of connection with others. Based on these themes, we chose a set of features that fulfilled the desires expressed by our participants. Responses from these interviews were analysed for common themes, with immersion, relaxation, and connection emerging as the key themes. We asked our participants about spatial audio, graphics, and interaction, how and if they could enhance soundscapes. In the co-design study, we aimed to investigate how we could use natural soundscapes to enhance wellbeing, specifically how we could use augmented reality audio techniques to do this. We hoped this would also lead to a user-led design process, ultimately producing a prototype that would interest our audiences. We ran a short co-design study with our colleagues to better understand how we could use augmented reality audio with soundscapes. This work was inspired by our conversations with the BBC Sound Effects archive team to explore how spatial audio and augmented reality (AR) could lead to different uses of the collection and the Soundscapes for Wellbeing project, which investigates the wellbeing benefits of nature sounds. We then imported the mix into Soundscape Explorer to listen in 3D and position each sound source relative to the background image. We used the Sound Effects Mixer to find audio clips from the archive and set the timing for each effect. A sphere represents each sound, and you can interact with the sounds to move them or change their volume. Tropical Beach, Spring Awakening, and Coastal Winds are short natural soundscapes designed by Sian Eleri (BBC Radio 1), Jack Reynolds (BBC R&D), and Emma Young (BBC R&D), respectively.Īs well as 3D audio, the soundscapes have 360-degree background images (including one that was captured by Florian Schweiger with BBC Research & Development's lightfield capture rig).It was read by Nick Bright (BBC Radio 1Xtra, BBC Radio 5 Live) and set to narrative sound design by Jon Francombe. Nicholas is one of the best-known Christmas poems. Philip's poem was read by Mary Ann Hobbs (BBC Radio 6 Music) and set to a wintry soundscape designed by Emma Young. Winter Outside is a poem written specially for this app by BBC Research & Development's published poet, Philip Robinson.You can use Soundscape Explorer with mixes you've made yourself, but we launched with some ready-made soundscapes to try out. You can use the arrow keys to move around the scene on a computer. If you use the app on a mobile device, moving the device can change the viewpoint. Our Soundscape Explorer tool decodes that shared link to grab the sounds from the Sound Effects library and then positions them (randomly) in 3D space to be explored. The mixer tool lets anyone add sounds and do some simple mixing (like setting volumes, start times, and loop points). Soundscape Explorer is a web application that plays back mixes made using the BBC Sound Effects library mixer tool.
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