An open-source outdoor sound propagation framework with an application to aircraft noise auralization
* Presenting author
Abstract:
Over the last years, the idea of open science has become more and more popular. In this context, open-source software is an important aspect as it allows reproducing and comprehending scientific results in more depth. At the Institute for Hearing Technology and Acoustics in Aachen, the open-source C++ project ITAGeometricalAcoustics for the simulation of outdoor sound propagation based on methods of geometrical acoustics is under constant development. Among other modules, it contains the Atmospheric Ray Tracing (ART) tool to determine curved propagation paths in a stratified atmosphere, which can be interfaced using a Matlab extension. Another application called pigeon allows to find sound paths in complex urban environments considering reflections and diffractions. Both simulation tools are designed for the purpose of physics-based auralization of complex scenes. They have been successfully integrated into our open-source auralization framework VA.In this contribution, the open-source project is introduced. Focusing on the Atmospheric Ray Tracing tool, a practical example is given that shows the simulation and visualization capabilities of the framework with respect to sound propagation in the atmosphere. Finally, the toolchain is used to auralize an aircraft flyover using VA.