3D Surround Sound Application for Game Environments

Abstract: This report covers the creation and implementation of a 3D audio application using FMOD Ex API. The report will also cover a walkthrough of the basic principles of 3D and surround audio, examples of other uses of 3D audio, a comparison between available technologies today, both software and hardware and finally the result of the implementation of the 3D sound environment software, both server and client. The application was created to explore the use of 3D audio in immersive environments. There was no application like this available when this project was conducted. An inductive approach along with a form of rapid application development and scenario creation was used to achieve the results presented in this report. The implementation resulted in a working client and server software which is able to create a 3D sound environment. Based on a user evaluation the software proved to be quite successful. With the help of the implementation the user, or operator, can now create a sound environment for another user, or a listener. The environment is created and designed by the operator using the client side of the implementation and later played through the server side which is connected to a 4.1 speaker system. The operator can steer and add sounds from the client to an active environment and the listener can experience the change in real time. This project was conducted as a bachelor thesis in computer science at Mälardalens University in Västerås, Sweden.