1st Workshop on Sonic Interactions in Virtual Environments

Sonic interaction design is defined as the study and exploitation of sound as one of the principal channels conveying information, meaning, and aesthetic/emotional qualities in interactive contexts. This field lies at the intersection of interaction design and sound and music computing. In the virtual reality community, the focus on research in topics related to auditory feedback has been rather limited when compared, for example, to the focus placed on visual feedback or even on haptic feedback. However, in communities such as the film community or the product sound design community it is well known that sound is a powerful way to communicate meaning and emotion to a scene or a product. The main goal of this workshop is to increase among the virtual reality community the awareness of the importance of sonic elements when designing virtual environments. We will also discuss how research in other related fields such as film sound theory, product sound design, sound and music computing, game sound design and computer music can inform designers of virtual reality environments. Moreover, the workshop will feature state of the art research on the field of sound for virtual environments.