Virtual Microphones are used on the Spatialization technique here described, so here a brief description of microphone functionalities.
Recording devices are used to obtain sound and extract acoustic information contained on it. Microphones are our tool to accurately or inaccurately receive sound from nature.
Different types of microphone allow different applications, for perceiving a variety of sounds on several circumstances, i.e. dynamic (moving coil), ribbon, and condenser microphone with characteristic response patterns, such as Omni directional, cardioids or bi-directional. This is, the polar shapes that indicate where the maximum sensibility of a given microphone is found, as shown in the next figure.
These changing options for receiving sounds with microphones delivers a change on the sound that is recorded and the effect of their directivity can be used to communicate and/or use the location of the sound being recorded.
The directionality of these microphones in relation to a radial coordinate system can be modeled, to emulate the way in which the sound pressure from sound sources arrives on different manners to different microphones with random positions on space.
Ultrasound is also captured using sensible enough transducers. Research and art applications are done about it, using Sonification (Maeder, 2011).
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Further on this chapter:
0. CONTENT
2.1 SONIFICATION
2.1.1 SONIFICATION DEFINITIONS AND CONCEPTS
2.2 SPATIALIZATION
2.2.1 ACOUSTICS INVOLVED IN SPATIALIZATION
2.2.1.1 COORDINATES SYSTEM
2.2.1.2 DELAY AND GAIN
2.2.1.3 REFLECTIONS
2.2.1.4 SOUND ACQUIREMENT
2.2.2 SPATIALIZATION TECHNIQUES
2.2.2.1 ViMiC
2.2.2.1.1 BASIC FUNCTIONING
2.2.2.2 JAMOMA
2.2.2.2.1 VIMIC MODULES
2.2.2.2.2 OUTPUT MODULES