A GPU-Based Method to Approximate Acoustical Reflectivity

Abstract Here we present a GPU-based heuristic method for approximating the size and reflectivity of a room relative to a given sound source origin that can potentially provide interactive response for the appropriate selections of geometry and hardware. The method calculates the average distance to the nearest surfaces in the environment and an approximate measure of the fraction of sound energy that would be reflected from those surfaces. Both of these values are then used to drive the reverberation effects of an audio API. The method can potentially provide interactive response for the appropriate selections of geometry and hardware. Source code is available online at address provided at the end of this paper.