Computer simulation of water sounds

Computer-generated images and videos today have reached such perfection that they are almost impossible to distinguish from reality. However, with the sound the situation is exactly the opposite. In all computer games and movies, sounds are made from samples recorded in reality. Until now, it was not possible to generate realistic sounds directly from mathematical models in which physical processes are simulated.

However, computers will soon be able to make a movie soundtrack from scratch - as well as a video series. Scientists Doug James and Chanzi Zheng from Cornell University have demonstrated technology that could be the first brick in the building of computerized sound simulations.

Scientists decided to create a model for generating various sounds of water . They rummaged through the literature on acoustics and found out that in a stream of water the sound is generated by the vibration of small air bubbles with a diameter of 0.5 to 5 mm.

The developed model covers sounds of dripping water, flowing stream, splashes of water, as well as bubbling water. Creating a nine-second sound of bubbling water requires four hours of work on 20 quad-core Xeon processors.
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Theoretically, when home computers reach normal power (that is, they become at least a thousand times more productive than they are now), then such models can generate real sounds in real time on a gamer's computer right during a computer game.

James and Zheng will present their work at the SIGGRAPH conference in August.

Additionally:
Scientific work (PDF), 28.3 MB
Accompanying video, H.264, 60 FPS, 133 MB
Smaller videos: 1280x720, 67 MB , 1024x576, 46 MB , 854x480, 34 MB

via New Scientist