Hands-free audio control device
Traditional head-mounted display experiences require a hand controller (e.g. thumbstick, touchpad, gamepad, keyboard, etc.) to manipulate audio controls. The invention is a hands-free, body-based navigation technology that puts the participant's body in direct control of movement through sonic space. Participants lean towards a sound source to make it louder and lean away to make it quieter. In some embodiments, the more a participant leans, the faster the volume changes. Because the interactions were designed to respond to natural bearing and balancing instincts, movement coordination is intuitive and easy to learn.
1. A system for optimizing the audibility of a collection of digital audio streams, comprising:
a head-mounted audio device configured to play a plurality of digital audio streams to a person wearing the head-mounted audio device, the head-mounted audio device being associated with one or more microprocessors and one or more sensors, wherein the head-mounted audio device, in combination with the microprocessors and sensors, is configured to cause at least one of the audio streams having a location in space to increase in volume when the person leans toward said location while causing decrease in the volume of any audio stream with a different location in space that the person is leaning away from.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the head-mounted audio device is configured to vary the audio stream's volume in response to a lean angle of the person.
3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the head-mounted audio device is configured to cause the audio stream's increase in volume to be greater as the person leans at a greater angle toward the location of the audio stream.
4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the audio stream's increased volume causes said audio stream to appear closer to the person.
5. The system of claim 2 , wherein the head-mounted audio device is configured cause any audio stream's decrease in volume to be greater as the person leans at a greater angle away from its different location.
6. The system of claim 5 , wherein any audio stream's decreased volume causes said audio stream to appear further away from the person.
7. The system of claim 2 , wherein the head-mounted audio device is configured to cause the audio stream to maintain a level of increased volume when the person leans toward the location of the audio stream past a specified threshold lean angle.
8. The system of claim 2 , wherein the head-mounted audio device is configured to cause any audio stream to maintain a level decreased volume when the person leans away from its different location past a specified threshold lean angle.
9. The system of claim 2 , wherein the one or more digital audio streams are played in a virtual environment.
10. The system of claim 2 , wherein the one or more digital audio streams are spatialized over a soundscape of the physical world.
11. A method for optimizing the audibility of a collection of digital audio streams, comprising:
playing, by a computer processor associated with one or more sensors, one or more digital audio streams to a person wearing a head-mounted audio device; and
causing, by the computer processor, at least one of the audio streams having a location in space to increase in volume when the person leans toward said location while causing a decrease in the volume of any audio stream with a different location in space that the person is leaning away from.
12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising varying, by the computer processor, the audio stream's volume in response to a lean angle of the person.
13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising causing the audio stream's increase in volume to be greater as the person leans at a greater angle toward the location of the audio stream.
14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the audio stream's increased volume causes said audio stream to appear closer to the person.
15. The method of claim 12 , further comprising causing any audio stream's decrease in volume to be greater as the person leans at a greater angle away from its different location.
16. The method of claim 15 , wherein any audio stream's decreased volume causes said audio stream to appear further away from the person.
17. The method of claim 12 , further comprising maintaining a level of increased volume of the audio stream when the person leans toward the location of the audio stream past a specified threshold lean angle.
18. The method of claim 12 , further comprising maintaining a level of decreased volume of any audio stream when the person leans away from its different location past a specified threshold lean angle.
19. The method of claim 12 , further comprising playing the one or more digital audio streams in a virtual environment.
20. The method of claim 12 , further comprising spatializing the one or more digital audio streams over a soundscape of the physical world.
21. One or more computer readable media (CRM) comprising instructions that, when executed by a computer associated with a head-mounted audio device and one or more sensors, are capable of playing a collection of digital audio streams to a person and causing at least one of the audio streams to having a location in space to increase in volume when the person leans toward said location while causing a decrease in the volume of any audio stream with a different location in space that the person is leaning away from.
22. The CRM of claim 21 , wherein the instructions are capable of varying the audio stream's volume in response to a lean angle of the person.
23. The CRM of claim 21 , wherein the instructions are capable of causing the audio stream's increase in volume to be greater as the person leans at a greater angle toward the location of the audio stream.
24. The CRM of claim 23 , wherein the audio stream's increased volume causes said audio stream to appear closer to the person.
25. The CRM of claim 21 , wherein the instructions are capable of causing any audio stream's decrease in volume to be greater as the person leans at a greater angle away from its different location.
26. The CRM of claim 25 , wherein any audio stream's decreased volume causes said audio stream to appear further away from the person.
27. The CRM of claim 21 , wherein the instructions are capable of causing the audio stream to maintain a level of increased volume when the person leans toward the location of the audio stream past a specified threshold lean angle.
28. The CRM of claim 21 , wherein the instructions are capable of causing any audio stream to maintain a level of decreased volume when the person leans away from its different location past a specified threshold lean angle.
29. The CRM of claim 21 , wherein the instructions are capable of causing the one or more digital audio streams to be played in a virtual environment.
30. The CRM of claim 21 , wherein the instructions are capable of causing the one or more digital audio streams to be spatialized over a soundscape of the physical world.