Abstract

Keywords: Virtual Reality, Immersive Audio, Interactive Installation

This paper reports on a project that aimed to break apart the isolation of VR and share an experience between both the wearer of a headset and a room full of observers. It presented the user with an acoustically playable virtual environment in which their interactions with objects spawned audio events from the room’s 80 loudspeakers and animations on the room’s 3 display walls. This view into what the wearer of the headset was doing allowed the audience to connect their movements to the sounds and images being experienced, effectively allowing them all to participate in the installation simultaneously. Video: Immersive Dreams

• Alex MacLean is an MA candidate in Communication and New Media at McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada. He is originally from Northern Ontario and now resides in Hamilton, ON. His passion for music and technology will guide his research investigating assistive applications of machine learning for the performing arts. He has earned both a diploma in Music Industry Arts from Fanshawe College and an HBSc in Computer Science from Western University. Before starting at McMaster he worked as a software engineer in the broadcast industry. Alex is also a member of a progressive rock band called Deepsea Challenger and McMaster’s Cybernetic Orchestra, a live-coding laptop ensemble. alexmaclean.ca
• David Ogborn, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada