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Previous studies have shown that autistic people often display atypical responses when processing sensory information, with particular prevalence within the auditory domain. Often provoked by common everyday sounds, auditory hypersensitivity can result in self-regulatory fear responses. This can be potentially harmful to autistic individuals and the people around them and is associated with greater occurrence of anxiety, depression, and poorer overall quality of life in the autistic population. Rather than a physiological causation, the literature suggests that hypersensitivity to sound is likely to be caused by how auditory stimuli are processed in the brain. This paper reports a home-based digital intervention aimed to address auditory hypersensitivity in autistic children. Developed as an interactive virtual reality game, the system integrates exposure-based therapy techniques into game mechanics and delivers target auditory stimuli to the player rendered via binaural-based spatial audio. The performance of the platform was evaluated in a 10-week feasibility study, during which children (n = 7) engaged weekly with the game during a 30 min session. Following this period, a comparison of pre- and post-study measurements showed a decrease in sensitivity for five participants, with qualitative feedback highlighting an increase in tolerance towards real-world stimuli and challenging environments. These results provide initial support for SoundFields as a home-based intervention targeting auditory hypersensitivity experienced by autistic children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we present a complete acoustic survey of the British Broadcasting Corporation Maida Vale recording studios. The paper outlines a fast room acoustic measurement framework for capture of spatial impulse response measurements for use in three or six degrees of freedom Virtual Reality rendering. Binaural recordings from a KEMAR dummy head as well as higher order Ambisonic spatial room impulse response measurements taken using a higher order Ambisonic microphone are presented. An acoustic comparison of the studios is discussed, highlighting remarkable similarities across three of the recording spaces despite significant differences in geometry. Finally, a database of the measurements, housing the raw impulse response captures as well as processed spatial room impulse responses is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are characterised as having impairments in social-emotional interaction and communication, alongside displaying repetitive behaviours and interests. Additionally, they can frequently experience difficulties in processing sensory information with particular prevalence in the auditory domain. Often triggered by everyday environmental sounds, auditory hypersensitivity can provoke self-regulatory fear responses such as crying and isolation from sounds. This paper presents SoundFields, an interactive virtual reality game designed to address this area by integrating exposure based therapy techniques into game mechanics and delivering target auditory stimuli to the player rendered via binaural based spatial audio. A pilot study was conducted with six participants diagnosed with ASD who displayed hypersensitivity to specific sounds to evaluate the use of SoundFields as a tool to reduce levels of anxiety associated with identified problematic sounds. During the course of the investigation participants played the game weekly over four weeks and all participants actively engaged with the virtual reality (VR) environment and enjoyed playing the game. Following this period, a comparison of pre- and post-study measurements showed a significant decrease in anxiety linked to target auditory stimuli. The study results therefore suggest that SoundFields could be an effective tool for helping individuals with autism manage auditory hypersensitivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Virtual Reality (VR) has been an active area of research in the development of interactive interventions for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) for over two decades. These immersive environments create a safe platform in which therapy can address the core symptoms associated with this condition. Recent advancements in spatial audio rendering techniques for VR now allow for the creation of realistic audio environments that accurately match their visual counterparts. However, reported auditory processing impairments associated with autism may affect how an individual interacts with their virtual therapy application. This study aims to investigate if these difficulties in processing audio information would directly impact how individuals with autism interact with a presented virtual spatial audio environment. Two experiments were conducted with participants diagnosed with ASD (n = 29) that compared: (1) behavioral reaction between spatialized and non-spatialized audio; and (2) the effect of background noise on participant interaction. Participants listening to binaural-based spatial audio showed higher spatial attention towards target auditory events. In addition, the amount of competing background audio was reported to influence spatial attention and interaction. These findings suggest that despite associated sensory processing difficulties, those with ASD can correctly decode the auditory cues simulated in current spatial audio rendering techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Featured Application: The methods presented in this paper improve high-frequency reproduction of binaural Ambisonic rendering. Ambisonics is a spatial audio technique appropriate for dynamic binaural rendering due to its sound field rotation and transformation capabilities, which has made it popular for virtual reality applications. An issue with low-order Ambisonics is that interaural level differences (ILDs) are often reproduced with lower values when compared to head-related impulse responses (HRIRs), which reduces lateralization and spaciousness. This paper introduces a method of Ambisonic ILD Optimization (AIO), a pre-processing technique to bring the ILDs produced by virtual loudspeaker binaural Ambisonic rendering closer to those of HRIRs. AIO is evaluated objectively for Ambisonic orders up to fifth order versus a reference dataset of HRIRs for all locations on the sphere via estimated ILD and spectral difference, and perceptually through listening tests using both simple and complex scenes. Results conclude AIO produces an overall improvement for all tested orders of Ambisonics, though the benefits are greatest at first and second order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ambisonics has enjoyed a recent resurgence in popularity due to virtual reality applications. Low order Ambisonic reproduction is inherently inaccurate at high frequencies, which causes poor timbre and height localisation. Diffuse-Field Equalisation (DFE), the theory of removing direction-independent frequency response, is applied to binaural (over headphones) Ambisonic rendering to address high-frequency reproduction. DFE of Ambisonics is evaluated by comparing binaural Ambisonic rendering to direct convolution via head-related impulse responses (HRIRs) in three ways: spectral difference, predicted sagittal plane localisation and perceptual listening tests on timbre. Results show DFE successfully improves frequency reproduction of binaural Ambisonic rendering for the majority of sound source locations, as well as the limitations of the technique, and set the basis for further research in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]