3D audio rendering on the Android platform
Author
Nørnberg Paaske, Jens
Term
4. term
Education
Publication year
2011
Submitted on
2011-05-30
Pages
79
Abstract
This thesis addresses the lack of a commercial breakthrough for binaural 3D audio by exploring the Android platform as a viable vehicle for deployment. The goal was to develop a working system that renders binaural 3D sound from existing mono, stereo, or surround sources on Android. The work surveyed Android hardware and software, the development workflow, and the use of native code via the NDK, leading to the design and implementation of an application with a graphical user interface. Implementations in both time and frequency domains were attempted with attention to memory and computational constraints. The project also included measurements of headphone transfer functions and a listening test comparing headphones commonly used with Android devices to models conventionally used for 3D audio. The final application does not yet support full binaural 3D audio, but it can perform real-time time-domain filtering of a mono signal with a 100-tap filter. The listening test showed a statistically significant, though not alarming, performance decrease for typical Android headphones. The report outlines paths toward a working solution via further frequency-domain development or better time-domain filter optimization; the conclusion remains open, but suggests that modest additional work could make the implementation practical for use in various Android applications.
Afhandlingen adresserer den manglende kommercielle gennemslagskraft for binaural 3D-lyd ved at undersøge Android-platformen som en mulig distributionskanal. Målet var at udvikle et fungerende system, der kan lave binaural 3D-lyd ud fra eksisterende mono-, stereo- eller surround-kilder på Android. Arbejdet omfattede en kortlægning af Androids hardware og software, udviklingsprocessen og brug af native-kode via NDK, hvilket førte til design og implementering af en app med grafisk brugerflade. Implementeringer i både tids- og frekvensdomæne blev afprøvet med fokus på hukommelses- og beregningskrav. Projektet inkluderede desuden målinger af hovedtelefoners overføringsfunktioner samt en lytteprøve, der sammenlignede hovedtelefoner almindeligt brugt med Android-enheder med modeller traditionelt anvendt til 3D-lyd. Den endelige app understøtter endnu ikke fuld binaural 3D-lyd, men kan realtidsfiltrere et monosignal i tidsdomænet med et filter på 100 tap. Lytteprøven viste en statistisk signifikant, men ikke alarmerende, reduktion i ydelse for almindelige Android-hovedtelefoner. Rapporten peger på, at yderligere arbejde med frekvensdomæneprocessering eller optimering af tidsdomænefiltre kan føre til en fungerende løsning; konklusionen er derfor åben, men indikerer, at en mindre indsats kan gøre implementeringen anvendelig og relevant for flere Android-applikationer.
[This apstract has been generated with the help of AI directly from the project full text]