Fast modeling of acoustic reflections and diffraction in complex environments using visibility diagrams

In this paper we propose a novel method for computing and auralizing the diffracted field using visibility diagrams. The method allows us to concentrate in a pre-processing phase all the heavy computational tasks that can be performed without knowing the locations of source or receiver. In particular, we can pre-compute the visibility diagrams of all reflectors and all the beam trees (and the corresponding diffracting filters) that are associated to the diffracting wedges on reflectors. Using this information and the source's location, we can generate the corresponding beam tree of geometric reflections. Once the receiver's location is given, we can also generate all geometric paths and the coefficients of the actual diffracting filter. This allows us to model in real-time reflections, diffractions, transmissions in a complex environment with sources and receivers that can freely move.