Presenting the 'Diamonds Chamber"

The “Diamonds Chamber (DC)” (Camera dei Diamanti) is a new virtual reality test bench at the University of Ferrara. The present work describes how at first a commercial chamber designed for audiometric testing was fitted with further sound absorbing material and equipped with an audio system consisting of 41 loudspeakers (32 passive, 8 active and a subwoofer). Later a virtual reality headset was included and finally audio and video were merged. The final configuration allows the creation of realistic virtual AV scenarios: the audio playback is achieved by means of HOA (higher order Ambisonics), while the video reproduction is managed by Unity software. An objective methodology, based on multichannel microphones, has been developed specifically to evaluate the performance of sound spatialization. The results in DC are encouragingly positive because the reproduction error for the minimum audible angle (MMA), which was evaluated for both real and virtual single sources, is mostly in the range 1°-4°. These values are not far from the human ability to distinguish two sounds coming from different directions under optimal conditions. Thanks to its performance the DC can be employed in a wide range of applications, spanning from medicine and psychology to industry.