Development of hardware and software for a game-like wireless sound distribution system

In the last few years, traditional music systems have evolved in multi-dimensional and surround sound systems. Digital formats and wireless networks allow for audio content to be readily accessible on smart networked devices. We increasingly see a trend to augment high definition TV, virtual reality gears as well as gaming applications with multidimensional audio. Hence 3D sound and directional perceptions have become of prime importance for experiential media applications. We have designed a new portable audio hardware system and a dedicated mobile android application to render immersive surround sound experiences with real time audio effects. The tablet and mobile phone allows the user to control or "play" with sound directionality and implement various audio effects including sound rotation, spatialization and other immersive experiences. This paper describes the hardware and software design, provides the theory of the sound effects, and presents demonstrations of the sound application that was created.