Collision avoidance in virtual environments through aural spacial awareness

In this paper we describe a new technique to make users aurally aware of walls surrounding them in a Virtual Environment (VE). This Collision Avoidance (CA) technique improves upon familiar Collision Notification (CN) feedback by constantly informing the user of his proximity to his surroundings through the playback of directional sounds. To render the aural CA feedback we use spatial sound played over surround loudspeakers, in addition to haptic feedback from a vibrating sound floor to signify collisions.