Download A perceptually inspired generative model of rigid-body contact sounds
Contact between rigid-body objects produces a diversity of impact and friction sounds. These sounds can be synthesized with detailed simulations of the motion, vibration and sound radiation of the objects, but such synthesis is computationally expensive and prohibitively slow for many applications. Moreover, detailed physical simulations may not be necessary for perceptually compelling synthesis; humans infer ecologically relevant causes of sound, such as material categories, but not with arbitrary precision. We present a generative model of impact sounds which summarizes the effect of physical variables on acoustic features via statistical distributions fit to empirical measurements of object acoustics. Perceptual experiments show that sampling from these distributions allows efficient synthesis of realistic impact and scraping sounds that convey material, mass, and motion.
Download Object-Based Synthesis of Scraping and Rolling Sounds Based on Non-Linear Physical Constraints
Sustained contact interactions like scraping and rolling produce a wide variety of sounds. Previous studies have explored ways to synthesize these sounds efficiently and intuitively but could not fully mimic the rich structure of real instances of these sounds. We present a novel source-filter model for realistic synthesis of scraping and rolling sounds with physically and perceptually relevant controllable parameters constrained by principles of mechanics. Key features of our model include non-linearities to constrain the contact force, naturalistic normal force variation for different motions, and a method for morphing impulse responses within a material to achieve location-dependence. Perceptual experiments show that the presented model is able to synthesize realistic scraping and rolling sounds while conveying physical information similar to that in recorded sounds.