UBC Theses and Dissertations

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UBC Theses and Dissertations

Automatic measurement and modelling of contact sounds Richmond, Joshua Lee

Abstract

Sound plays an important role in our everyday interactions with the environment. Sound models enable virtual objects to produce realistic sounds. The manual creation of sound models from real objects is tedious and inaccurate. A brief review of sound models is presented, with details of a sound model for contact sounds. This thesis documents the development of a system for the automatic acquisition of sound models. The system is composed of four modules: a sound acquisition device, an asynchronous data server, an algorithm for computing prototypical sound models and an adaptive sampling algorithm. A description of each module and its requirements is included. Implementations of each module are tested and explained. Results of typical data collections are discussed. Sound models for a calibration object, brass vase, plastic speaker and toy drum are constructed using the system. Comparisons of the sound models to the original recordings are displayed for each object. Under ideal circumstances the system produces accurate sound models. Environmental noise, however, decreases the accuracy of the estimation technique. An evaluation of the parameter estimation algorithm confirms this observation. Many opportunities exist for future work on this system. Ideas for improvements and future investigations are suggested.

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