INTERFACE II

Brett Fajen Assistant Professor, Cognitive Science

Presenting: Perceiving and acting in real and virtual environments Almost every purposeful action that we perform involves the ability to perceive the environment and coordinate our movements with respect to it. The sophistication of our perceptual-motor system is evident in the performances of professional athletes, musicians, and dancers. But even routine tasks, such as reaching and walking, require the brain to solve many challenging problems in very little time. After providing a brief overview of the study of perception and action, I will discuss some of my own research on this topic, focusing on work that takes advantage of technology for creating virtual environments. I will close by speculating on some of the ways in which EMPAC will provide opportunities for collaboration among researchers in cognitive science, electronic arts, and computer science.

Ning XIANG, Graduate Program in Architectural Acoustics, School of Architecture & ECSE

Presenting: Acoustic Measurement Technique for Collaborative Research with EMPAC Binaural auralization and virtual auditory reality have been growing in part due to recent advances in computer modeling of acoustics for performing-arts spaces. A newly developed acoustic measurement technique using simultaneous multiple sound sources can help contribute to further growth. After a brief review of the state-of-art in binaural technology, from auralization to virtual auditory reality, this talk will describe possible applications of the new acoustics measurement technique to a wide variety of EMPAC projects. It is anticipated that EMPAC can provide optimal environments for research and development of the acoustic measurement technique, which in turn will make contributions to future EMPAC projects.