Caruso: Interactive headphones for a dynamic 3D audio application in the cultural heritage context

One of the most important qualities of the physical environment in which humans live is spatial dimensionality. Talking about 3D, we usually think of 3D video, even if it is not the only existing channel of natural interaction. In this paper, we present an interaction system based on spatialized sounds. We developed an application in the cultural heritage context; a personal guide, in 3D sound, attracting the tourists attention toward monuments or buildings, offering soundscapes of augmented reality. The designed system interacts with smart headphones, remotely takes the orientation of the listener's head and properly generates an audio output, which also takes into account the listener's position and orientation in the environment. Thus, an innovative headphones using an inertial measurement unit for determination of the orientation of a users head have been designed and developed in open-ear mode, in order to locate the user in the real context.