ROOM ACOUSTICS

Activities

The Room Acoustics team, directed by Olivier Warusfel, studies sound propagation in halls. A significant part of its activity is directed, in the framework of the Spatialisateur software project, also know as "Spat", towards acoustic simulation, that combines localization of acoustic sources, room effect, and adaptation to various reproduction systems through specific coding procedures. Beyond new possibilities offered to composers for sound spatialization, this research has lead to numerous applications in the fields of concert production and audio post-production, telecommunications, the automobile industry, acoustics, etc.

The fundamental studies are mainly carried out in the scope of Ph.D's, while applied programms are generally subjected to agreements or collaborations with external organisms (Cnet, Espaces Nouveaux, Renault).

Areas of Expertise

Research is structured around the following areas :

 objective measure and analysis of the acoustic quality of a room ;
 analysis of the auditive perception of the space ;
 computer modelling of sound propagation in rooms ;
 signal processing applied to analysis and reproduction of sound fields ;
 study of control mechanisms of a sound scene and man machine interfaces ;
 analysis and modelling of the radiation of acoustic sources.

Themes and Associated Projects

Previsional acoustics (architectural acoustics), 3D acoustic simulation, virtual/augmented sound reality, spatial perception and cognition spatiales, signal processing.

Team Members

 Head of research : Olivier Warusfel
 Engineers and researchers : Alexis Baskind, Olivier Delerue, Brian Katz, Philippe Prévot, Emmanuel Rio, Sébastien Roux, Riita Väänänen, Guillaume Vandernoot
 Technician : Gérard Bertrand
 Doctoral students : Alexis Baskind, Sylvain Busson, Etienne Corteel

Collaborations

AKG, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, France Télécom R&D, Fraunhofer AEMT, Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft IMK (Institut für Media Kunst), IRT (Institut für Rundfunk Technik), KunstMuseum de Bonn, Renault S.A., Technische Universiteit Delft, Universität Erlangen, Technische Universität Wien, School of Sound, Studer.