AES British Section lectures - December 2006

The Evolution of Computer Game Audio

Adam Philp, Sensaura

www.sensaura.com December lecturer Adam Philp

On December 12th the UK Section of the AES hosted a lecture titled "The Evolution of Computer Game Audio" by Adam Philp, who is the Research & Development Manager of the Sensaura Group of Creative Technologies Ltd.

Adam started with a brief introduction to Sensaura. Sensaura supplied 3D sound & environmental audio solutions to game developers and manufacturers until 2003 when it was acquired by Creative. Now they provide sound card driver solutions and audio R&D to the rest of Creative.

Adam went on to cover the history of the game industry pointing out how the audio in games has changed. Over time the audio processing has moved from specific analogue circuits to microprocessors to dedicated ICs and now to sophisticated software stacks.

Adam briefly covered how we can generate a Head Related Transfer Function to generate 3D audio. The introduction of Microsoft's DirectSound3D provided a standard API for game developers and is relatively easy to use as the API uses the same coordinate system as the rest of the game.

Adam went on to talk about environmental audio which adds the ability to replicate, in-game, the fact that sounds are modified by their environment. Environmental audio improves a game by making it more realistic and immersive. Creative's Environmental Audio eXtensions (EAX) used statistical modelling which uses less resources and provides more artistic input than physical modelling.

Advancements in game audio initially came from the arcade machines, but quickly moved into the living room with home consoles. Since then home consoles and PCs have competed with each other to provide more advanced audio features. In recent years a lot of the advancement has been in the tools for developers providing greater productivity.

Adam finished by looking at the future of in-game audio. He pointed to better tools, interactive music, more cross-platform solutions, the ability to link audio effects to game geometry and spatially extended sources coming in the future.

There followed an extensive question and answer session and demonstration of in-game surround sound for the adventurous.. A recording of the lecture is available from the UK section website at www.aes.org/sections/uk/meetings/a0612.html.

Report by Tim Harris