Sound Design and Machine Acoustics in Virtual Reality

Virtual Engineering is an important tool to verify and optimise products in early design phases. For the development of innovative complex technical systems the applied models should comprehend the most important product properties. Up to now there are deficits in modelling and evaluating the acoustic behaviour of technical products although this is important in areas with rigid ergonomic and comfort requirements, e.g. in the consumer goods and automobile industries. In order to overcome these deficits, at the Ilmenau University of Technology a flexible audiovisual stereoscopic projection system (FASP) has been constructed. Consequently, investigations of the sound effects of machine components, machines, cars and other products as well as psycho-acoustic assessments of designed products in a virtual environment can be realized.