Damian Murphy: Strategies in Acoustic Simulation – Big Rooms and Small Voices
When: November 21, 2012 @ 5:30 PM – 6:30 PM
Where: Room 4.33, Informatics Forum, Informatics Forum, University of Edinburgh
Seminar Title
Strategies in Acoustic Simulation – Big Rooms and Small Voices
Seminar Speaker
Dr Damian Murphy (SoundLab, University of York, UK)
Seminar Abstract
Acoustic modelling and simulation work in the AudioLab, University of York, has focused most recently in two areas. In the first, 3-D models of the vocal tract have been measured using MRI, and acoustic impulse responses obtained based on 3-D Digital Waveguide Mesh techniques. This seminar will present the results of a study that worked with five professional singers to obtain 3-D physiological data to be used as the basis for these models, as well as appropriate source material for model excitation, and acoustic data for benchmarking the audio quality of the final simulations. At the other end of the modelling scale, research in auralization aims to simulate arbitrary, large-volume 3-D geometries, as found in concert halls or auditoria. In this case, 3-D Finite Difference Time Domain methods are used, although the size of the problem domain implies that full audio bandwidth is still unrealistic for reasonable computation times. A hybrid modelling solution is therefore employed with a view to obtaining results in a timeframe more appropriate to be useful as part of the acoustic design and auralization process.
Speaker Bio
Dr Damian Murphy is Reader in the AudioLab, Department of Electronics, University of York, where he has been since 2000. His research focuses on virtual acoustics, spatial audio, physical modelling, and audio signal processing and he has been principal investigator on a number of AHRC and EPSRC funded projects in these areas. He has published over 80 journal articles, conference papers and books in the area and is a member of the Audio Engineering Society and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. He is a visiting lecturer to the Department of Speech, Music and Hearing at KTH, Stockholm, where he specialises in spatial audio and acoustics and has held visiting research status at a number of universities internationally.
Dr Murphy is also an active sound artist and in 2004 was appointed as one of the UK’s first AHRC/ACE Arts and Science Research Fellows, investigating the compositional and aesthetic aspects of sound spatialisation, acoustic modelling techniques and the acoustics of heritage spaces. His work has been presented in galleries nationally and at festivals and venues internationally and included varied collaborations with interactive digital and visual artists, photographers, poets and archaeologists.