Sound design for stereoscopic 3D cinema: exploring current practice and the enhancement of depth perception through the use of auditory depth cues

Stereoscopic 3D (S3D) cinema has been the subject of experimentation for more than a century. Many attempts have been made towards its establishment both at a commercial and an artistic level. However, due to a number of technical and financial constraints most of these attempts have been, by and large, unsuccessful. With the rapid technological advance of digital technologies over the past few decades, most of these constraints have been addressed. It is, thus, unsurprising that the biggest effort in establishing S3D cinema commercially is taking place at the present time. The introduction of S3D depth aims at changing the cinematic environment from a 2D monoscopic screen to a viewing zone with a more pronounced representation of depth. In this context it can be argued that in addition to the increased sense of depth in terms of visual cues one could also investigate the possibility of using auditory cues. This could be either in order to enhance the overall sense of depth or to support more efficiently the additional depth of the visuals. The first part of this thesis involves the introduction of basic concepts related to the topic of the study. Firstly, the general background context is established covering relevant historical topics related to S3D cinema and multichannel cinematic sound. The next part is an introduction to basic audiovisual human perception concepts followed by the presentation of basic cinematic sound mixing topics and their relevance in S3D cinema. The second part of the thesis involves a series of experiments that attempt to study the effectiveness of two auditory cues (high frequency attenuation and volume alteration) as a means to influence the sense of depth of S3D animation clips. The overall findings are complex and reflect the multi-faceted nature of the topic investigated. Overall they indicate that sound design techniques can enhance the S3D experience and, in particular, that the auditory depth cues studied can, in some cases, have an effect on how we perceive depth in S3D movies.