# Design and Evaluation of a Web- and Mobile-Based Binaural Audio Platform for Cultural Heritage
## 2 Background
### Sonic Narratives for Cultural Heritage  
In this section, we look at how concepts like sonic narratives, soundscapes and interactivity have been explored in the cultural heritage context. We also look at audio and/or web technologies adoption and implementation methods, the results achieved so far, and the limitations of current systems, when it comes to cultural heritage applications--describing the panorama in which our system is being proposed. In [25], [PERSON] et al. give an exhaustive review and comparative analysis of research about digital storytelling and the delivery of multi-media content, on-site or on-line, with a focus on cultural heritage. Here, we will limit to those projects that use exclusively or mainly audio as medium for content delivery or to design novel types of experiences. Looking at the state of the art in this area, it can be noticed how research is delving into solutions to make cultural heritage immersive, adopting augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and spatial audio; engaging, using personalisation and emotional storytelling; adaptive, exploiting context-awareness and location-awareness; interactive, using the paradigm of dramas; or open and inclusive, developing content for people with impairments and/or difficulties. Two of the first projects aiming at enriching the user experience and engagement in a museum's visit were the HyperAudio and the HIPS projects. In [26], the authors introduce the HyperAudio project, in which the user is presented with audio content played through headphones when approaching an artefact, together with suggestions for further exploration on the display of a palmtop. In [27], the hardware and software architecture is presented, which uses infrared transmitters nearby the exhibits and a receiver on the user's headphones to implement a degree of location awareness. The HIPS project [28] expands on the HyperAudio experience aiming at a user-adaptive presentation system. The LISTEN project [29] investigated audio augmented environments and user adaptation technologies. This involved the development of ListenSpace [30]--graphical authoring tool used to represent the real space and the sound sources' position--as well as the implementation of a domain ontology [31] for an exhibition and the use of context-awareness to adapt to the user's interest. For the spatial rendering the authors relied on IRCAM's Spatialisateur [32]. The main limitations, from the content creators' perspective, could be seen into the system's software (server-based processing) and hardware (antennas or infrared cameras for head-tracking) requirements, and the necessity for custom development for each exhibition, together with the sound rendering only for the horizontal plane. In the CHESS project [33], the focus was on personalisation and interactivity; where the story was delivered mainly through voice narration, with on-screen instructions and interaction obtained through applications running on web browsers. Personalisation was obtained through the definition of personae, profiling first-time visitors [34] to adapt the narration style. Once profiled, the adaptive storytelling engine [33] used contextual data to adapt the user's experience. Interaction and context awareness (based on geolocation) was explored in [35] with mobile urban dramas (in which the user becomes the main character of a story). The project used a multimedia style (audio, video, images and animations) and was implemented to run on mobile web browsers using XML to describe the content. Here, the advantage of multi-platform flexibility, was limited by the need for specific knowledge about the content metadata structure or the consultancy from the researchers for app implementation and web services. Other projects have been studying and developing new ways to attract visitors with engaging experiences. The EMOTIVE project [36] aimed to \"research, design, develop and evaluate methods and tools that can support the cultural and creative industries in creatingnarratives\" that exploit emotional storytelling.