The vision of the LISTEN project

We report about the LISTEN project, a research. project funded by the European Commission in the context of the Information Society Technology program (IST-1999-20646). LISTEN, which started in January 2001, will provide users with intuitive access to personalized and situated audio information spaces while they naturally explore everyday environments. A new form of multisensory content is proposed to enhance the sensual impact of a broad spectrum of applications ranging from art installations to entertainment events. This is achieved by augmenting the physical environment through a dynamic soundscape, which users experience over motion-tracked wireless headphones. Immersive audio-augmented environments are created by combining high-definition spatial audio rendering technology with advanced user modeling methods. These allow for adapting the content to the users individual spatial behavior. The project will produce several prototypes and a virtual-reality-based authoring tool. Technological innovations will be validated under laboratory conditions whilst the prototypes will be evaluated in public exhibitions.