Preliminary evaluation of a sound system employing a cancelling auralizer for producing virtual rooms in a modern recording studio

We investigate the operation of a virtual acoustic system (VAT) in the Immersive Media Laboratory (IMLAB) at McGill University, and the benefits offered by a real-time cancelling auralizer currently under development at CCRMA of Stanford University and the University of Limerick. The feedback-cancelling system reduces the likelihood of feedback and howling in live real-time auralizations of acoustic spaces through in-room microphone capture and loudspeaker reproduction. Amplified microphone signals are sent to a feedback cancellation network that convolves them with a variety of captured or synthesized multichannel impulse responses, and reproduces them via loudspeakers. One of the research purposes of VAT is to investigate the degree of similarity that can be achieved between the acoustics of a real space and its recreated virtual version. We present a preliminary analysis focused on measuring the main acoustical parameters according to ISO 3382-1 created under different virtual acoustical conditions. Ongoing research examines the interactions of professional musicians with the current state of the system, which will be continuously investigated in the near future. The work is carried out in collaboration with the authors of the feedback-cancelling technology.