Spatial Audio Focus for Immersive Visual Content
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Solution Overview
Problem
The presentation of spatial audio content can be overwhelming and difficult for users to understand, especially when accompanied by immersive visual content, as it is challenging to effectively convey the context and relevance of the audio sources within the scene.
Innovation Solution
An apparatus that selectively applies a spatial audio focus to specific parts of the captured spatial audio content based on user-specific audio focus information, visual focus information, and historical data, enhancing the audibility of audio from certain directions while attenuating others, thereby improving user understanding and engagement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If spatial audio content is presented in full immersion to provide rich auditory experience, then the auditory information completeness is improved, but the user understanding and comprehension deteriorates due to overwhelming and difficult-to-interpret content
Solution Approach 1:
The spatial audio content is segmented into multiple directional components or audio sources, allowing the system to selectively focus on specific segments rather than presenting all audio equally. This segmentation enables the user to understand individual audio sources within the immersive environment without being overwhelmed by the complete auditory scene.
Solution Approach 2:
The system applies local quality enhancement by selectively amplifying or highlighting specific audio sources or directional components based on user focus or relevance. This creates varying audio qualities across different spatial locations, with focused areas having enhanced clarity and other areas attenuated, improving comprehension while maintaining overall immersion.
2Quantity of substance
If all audio sources in the scene are presented with equal clarity, then the spatial audio richness is improved, but the relevance and context conveyance of specific audio sources deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The audio presentation dynamically adjusts the prominence and clarity of different audio sources based on user interaction, focus direction, or contextual relevance. This dynamic modulation allows the system to maintain spatial audio richness while selectively emphasizing relevant audio sources, preventing information loss about which sources are most important.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces an intermediary processing layer that analyzes spatial audio content and user context to determine which audio sources should be highlighted. This intermediary function mediates between the complete spatial audio scene and the user's comprehension needs, selectively enhancing relevant sources while preserving the overall spatial richness.
3Device complexity
If spatial audio processing is applied to all directions uniformly, then the processing simplicity is improved, but the user experience tailoring and engagement deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary analysis of the spatial audio scene to identify and categorize audio sources by relevance, direction, and importance before user interaction. This preliminary processing creates a structured representation that enables quick, adaptive adjustments during user engagement, maintaining processing simplicity while enabling personalized user experiences based on individual preferences and context.
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus configured to: based on (i) captured spatial audio content of a scene comprising audio that is associated with information indicative of at least a direction in the scene from which said audio was captured; and (ii) visual focus information comprising information indicative of at least a first part of the scene on which corresponding captured visual imagery of the scene is focused for presentation to a user; provide for presentation of the captured spatial audio content to accompany the captured visual imagery, the captured spatial audio content presented as spatial audio, the spatial audio content provided for presentation with a spatial audio focus selectively applied to audio captured from a second part of the scene different to the first part, the spatial audio focus comprising an audio-modifying effect to increase the audibility of the audio having a direction corresponding to the second part.