Patent ID: 7113610

Claim:
A method for determining an output to drive a physical sound source, to simulate an audible experience of a virtual listener exposed to sound from a virtual sound source in a virtual environment, comprising the steps of: (a) determining a vector from the virtual sound source to the virtual listener in the virtual environment, to create a virtual sound source vector; (b) determining a vector from the virtual sound source to a virtual speaker position in the virtual environment, to create a virtual speaker position vector, said virtual speaker position being associated with at least one physical sound source, and said virtual speaker position being fixed relative to a location and orientation of the virtual listener such that a location of the virtual speaker position tracks any change in the location of the virtual listener and such that the virtual speaker position tracks any change in the orientation of the virtual listener; (c) determining the output to drive the physical sound source as a function of the virtual sound source vector and the virtual speaker position vector; and (d) driving the physical sound source with the output, thus enabling the physical sound source to simulate an audible experience of the virtual listener exposed to sound from the virtual sound source in the virtual environment.