Course Syllabus

(3D) Sound in Virtual Environments

CIS 4930/6930

[3 Credit Hours]

Spring 2015

Course Information:

Course Communications:

Please be sure to check the Announcements section of Canvas for any announcements related to the class. Announcements will also be given at the beginning of the class period. Private questions should be emailed to the instructor with CIS 4930 or CIS 6930 at the start of the subject line. If there are general questions (related to a certain concept or technology) please post them in the “Discussions” section of the Course Website.

All members of the class are expected to follow rules of common courtesy in all email messages, threaded discussions and chats. Discourteous conduct will result in a permanent loss of participation and attendance points.

 http://teach.ufl.edu/docs/NetiquetteGuideforOnlineCourses.pdf

 

Text and Course Materials:

There is no required text for the course, as the readings will be taken from “3-D Sound for Virtual Reality and Multimedia” (3DS4VRAM) and othervarious articles that will be provided on Canvas. One or more homework assignments will involve the use of MATLAB. You may install it on your own computer, using the school’s license or use the MATLAB installation on the lab computers to complete your assignments. MATLAB experience is NOT assumed or required. You will be taught the elements that you need to know in order to complete the homework.

Course Goals & Objectives

• Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:
  •  Understand the physiological and computational aspects of rendering accurate spatial audio
  • Understand the tradeoffs and challenges that must be addressed when designing spatial audio applications.
  • Design and develop a virtual auditory environment using the concepts discussed in class
  • Learn and discuss current trends in virtual spatial audio research
  • Present and demonstrate the results of their semester project

Instructional Methods

Since this course is largely project-driven, sufficient time will be allocated for students to work on their projects in class and ask the instructor questions about the various techniques and technologies that are being used.

Attendance Policy:

Regular and punctual attendance is expected (unless prior notice is discussed with the professor). Prior notice consists of an email with attached documentation of the excuse (away game, doctor’s note, court summons, etc). Attendance will be taken daily. All absences must be accompanied with proper documentation to avoid grade penalty.

Quiz Policy

If attendance or participation should begin to wane, randomized pop quizzes will be conducted at the beginning of class. If you should miss the quiz, without a documented reason, your grade will be a zero.

Make-up Policy

As a general rule, late assignments and documents will not be accepted. In rare situations (for example, a student has been sick for an extended period of time), late assignments and documents may be accepted but proper documentation is required (ex: doctor’s note).

 

Regular extracurricular activity (e.g., participating in an out-of-town conference) does not merit permission to submit late documents or assignments. If you are going to be away at a time when an assignment is due, meet with the professor to arrange for early submission of the assignment.

 

University Policy on Accommodating Students with Disabilities: Students requesting accommodation for disabilities must first register with the Dean of Students Office (http://www.dso.ufl.edu/drc/). The Dean of Students Office will provide documentation to the student who must then provide this documentation to the instructor when requesting accommodation. You must submit this documentation prior to submitting assignments or taking the quizzes or exams. Accommodations are not retroactive, therefore, students should contact the office as soon as possible in the term for which they are seeking accommodations.

 

University Policy on Academic Misconduct:  Academic honesty and integrity are fundamental values of the University community. Students should be sure that they understand the UF Student Honor Code at http://www.dso.ufl.edu/students.php.

Grading Policies:

Final letter grades will be determined from the total average approximately as follows:

The course grade will be calculated as follows:

 

The Class Project grade (from above) will be calculated as follows:

 

*Extra Credit

Up to 5% extra credit can be earned by presenting a research paper relevant to a topic presented in class (published within the last 18 months). Your presentation should summarize the topic, explain the results, provide thoughtful insights about what was learned, discuss any shortcomings, and suggest future steps for the study. In total, your presentation should last 15 minutes.

 

One unexcused absence can be forgiven if you visit the Career Resource Center before January 31 to have their resume critiqued. In order to receive credit, you must submit documentation of your appointment, along with the “before” and “after” versions of your resume. If you have no unexcused absences, the resume critique will count for a missed quiz or 2% extra credit.

 

Class Project:

Each student completes a project in which they pick a user population (visually impaired, children, elderly, musicians, etc) and design an auditory environment to suit some need of that population. Graduate students will complete individual projects and undergraduate students may work in groups of 2.

Each project group will create a Project proposal and present their project’s purpose. Each project group will also present their intermediary work to the class during the Midterm Project Presentation. Each project group will receive constructive project feedback from the class. The Project Proposal, Midterm-Project Assessment, and Final Project guidelines will be posted on Blackboard.  Although this is a technical class, you will be expected to write all documents related to homework and assignments using good, clear English and grammar. If this will be a challenge for you, it would be beneficial to visit the Writing Center on campus prior to submitting your work.

For the final project assessment, project groups must design and implement their software using the principles learned in class. Students are expected to work on their projects throughout the entire semester. There will be class sessions designated as “in-class” project work where students can receive project help.

 

 

Homework:

 

Seven homework assignments will be assigned throughout the semester and posted on Canvas. The due date and time for each program, assignment or document will be specified in the assignment. Programs and assignments and documents are to be submitted electronically and are due by the specified time and date.

Course Outline (subject to change)

Week	Date	Topic(s)	Assigned Work	Work Due	Reading
1	1/6	Introduction, Virtual Auditory Space & Applications			1-17 (3DS4VRAM)
	1/8	Characteristics of Sound Sources & MATLAB Implementation	HW #1, Project Proposal, Project Description	Project Description	17-25 (3DS4VRAM)
2	1/13	Sound Perception, Psychoacoustics, and Cognition			25-31 (3DS4VRAM) Mynatt, 1994
	1/15	Spatial Hearing – Azimuth and Elevation			31-39 (3DS4VRAM)
3	1/20	Movement Cues			39-40 (3DS4VRAM) Kapralos, 2004
	1/22	Head-Related Transfer Functions (HRTFs)	HW #2	HW #1	40-49 (3DS4VRAM) Algazi, 2001
4	1/27	Project Proposal Presentations		Project Proposal (Report)
	1/29	Project Proposal Presentations
5	2/3	User Observations	Online Assignment (participation)	HW #2, Online Assignment, Attend Career Showcase	49-67 (3DS4VRAM) Grohn, 2002
	2/5	Localization with HRTFs	Mid-project Assessment (Report) & HW #3
6	2/10	Distance and Environment			69-82 (3DS4VRAM) Svarverud, 2010
	2/12	Project Work Day
7	2/17	Implementing 3-D Sound systems		HW #3	95-109 (3DS4VRAM) Schilling (sections 4 and 5)
	2/19	Project Work Day
8	2/24	Midterm Project Assessment Presentations		Mid-project Assessment (Report)
	2/26	Midterm Project Assessment Presentations
9	3/3	Have A Great Spring Break
	3/5
10	3/10	Implementing HRTF Cues			109-137 (3DS4VRAM)
	3/12	Implementing Distance and Reverberation	HW #5		137-155 (3DS4VRAM) Zahorik, 2002
11	3/17	Project Work Day
	3/19	Virtual Acoustic Applications & Audio Input			157-176 (3DS4VRAM) Allosphere
12	3/24	Head Tracking Audio for Virtual Environments	HW #6		167-186 (3DS4VRAM) Loomis, 1990
	3/26	Voice Communications		HW#5	186-190 (3DS4VRAM) Cocktail Party
13	3/31	Aeronautical Applications and 3D Techniques Applied to Music			190-199 (3DS4VRAM) McCann, 1998
	4/2	Current topics – HRTF Customization			Seeber & Fastl, 2003 Xu, 2007 Wan, 2014
14	4/7	Current topics –  Virtual Sound Search and Training	HW #7 (Group Poster)		Walker & Lindsay-2006 McMullen, 2014
	4/9	Psychophysics Research Methods			Psychoacoustics
15	4/14	Final Project Presentations		Final Project + Report
	4/16	Final Project Presentations
16	4/21	Project Fair		HW #6, HW #7 (Group Poster)

For issues with technical difficulties for E-learning in Canvas, please contact the UF Help Desk at:

• Learning-support@ufl.edu
• (352) 392-HELP - select option 2
• https://lss.at.ufl.edu/help.shtml

 

** Any requests for make-ups due to technical issues MUST be accompanied by the ticket number received from LSS when the problem was reported to them. The ticket number will document the time and date of the problem. You MUST e-mail your instructor within 24 hours of the technical difficulty if you wish to request a make-up.

 

 

 

Other resources are available at http://www.distance.ufl.edu/getting-help for:

• Counseling and Wellness resources
• Disability resources
• Resources for handling student concerns and complaints
• Library Help Desk support

 

Should you have any complaints with your experience in this course please visit http://www.distance.ufl.edu/student-complaints to submit a complaint.

 

Drop Days

The last day to drop without record is January 12; last day to drop without final grades is April 10.