spatial audio xr toolkit
A bachelor thesis project exploring whether embodied, 3D interaction makes spatial sound design more intuitive than the 2D DAW interfaces it's normally confined to. Wearing an Oculus Quest 3 in passthrough mode, a performer moves virtual sound sources by hand while hearing the result rendered binaurally in real time. Three components talk over OSC: Unity XR handles interaction and visualization, Max/MSP with IRCAM's spat5 handles spatialization and HRTF-based binaural rendering, and an "inverse source transformation" layer reconciles the two — spat5 assumes a stationary listener, so the system inverts the performer's movement to keep spat5's frame of reference fixed while the performer still experiences full spatial responsiveness. A small user study found the interaction intuitive, with audio feedback essential to the experience.
