Auralisation, the audio equivalent of visualization, enables us to audition virtual acoustic environments that once existed, will exist or that are purely fictional. Auralisation is based on obtaining the acoustic room impulse response (RIR) of a space, through measurement if the building already exists, or otherwise via simulation using computational modelling. The result is a 3D acoustic rendering of any sound we wish to hear within the auralised environment. This research plays a key role in architecture, environmental noise assessment, recreating past environments in digital heritage, as well as enabling creativity in music production, broadcast and computer gaming. The WEb Audio Virtual Environment Rendering (WEAVER) project will revisit the concept of spatial audio composition and rendering in relation to the last ten years of development in auralisation and virtual acoustics research. Since this research started in 2004, the specialised audio technology required to explore spatial composition using virtual acoustics, auralisation, acoustic measurement and modelling is now commonplace in most creative computer music software applications. Acoustic RIR measurements from various sites, buildings and venues, many of significant heritage value or interest have also been gathered and disseminated over this ten-year period via the online Open Acoustic Impulse Response Library (OpenAIR: www.openairlib.net). Over this time OpenAIR has become a key resource for electronic musicians, sound designers, software and computer game developers. Much of the functionality required to explore and audition spatial audio content and virtual acoustic environments can now, in fact, be offered via a standard web browser and mobile device - additional acoustic RIR data is still needed to auralise these virtual spaces, but the ability to use or listen to these results is now carried by millions of potential users worldwide. WEAVER will use the Web Audio API to deliver interactive virtual acoustic environments via a web browser, and to further realise some of the creative research aims first articulated over ten years ago. In combination with the research and resources related to OpenAIR, that was also an outcome from this initial work, WEAVER will develop impact and engagement in online sonic art, digital heritage and broadcast. WEAVER will create novel online sonic art from OpenAIR data. We will scope the Web Audio API to detail its capabilities for developing creative virtual acoustics applications informed by existing examples and current practice, and provide a route to impact through the development of new user contacts for OpenAIR content. We will work with York Theatre Royal, a regional producing theatre based on a historic site that has hosted a working theatre since 1744, to develop a web resource to engage new audiences with the redevelopment and heritage of the theatre's auditorium space. This presents a unique opportunity to apply our virtual acoustics research in a culturally and historically significant venue during its refurbishment. We will help York Theatre Royal to tell their story and engage new audiences using our expertise in acoustic heritage, auralisation and sound design, brought together through the development of novel, interactive online content. With BBC Audio Research we will investigate how virtual acoustic rendering informs the experience of listening to audio broadcast material. WEAVER will expand on existing BBC spatial audio rendering for broadcast to include differently rendered virtual acoustic and playback listening environments, and will make use of BBC facilities and test platforms for reaching audiences in order to gain feedback on the effectiveness and future viability of this presentation technology. At all stages data and code developed will be disseminated by open-source/open-access means, encouraging maximum potential impact for WEAVER and the resources it creates.

The creative industries are crucial to UK social and cultural life and one of the largest and fastest-growing sectors of the economy. Games and media are key pillars for growth in the creative industries, with UK turnovers of £3.5bn and £12.9bn respectively. Research in digital creativity has started to be well supported by governmental funds. To achieve full impact from these investments, translational and audience-facing research activities are needed to turn ideas into commercial practice and societal good. We propose a "Digital Creativity" Hub for such next-step research, which will produce impact from a huge amount of research activity in direct collaboration with a large group of highly engaged stakeholders, delivering impact in the Digital Economy challenge areas of Sustainable Society, Communities and Culture and New Economic Models. York is the perfect location for the DC Hub, with a fast-growing Digital Creativity industry (which grew 18.4% from 2011 to 2012), and 4800 creative digital companies within a 40-mile radius of the city. The DC Hub will be housed in the Ron Cooke Hub, alongside the IGGI centre for doctoral training, world-class researchers, and numerous small hi-tech companies. The DC Hub brings: - A wealth of research outcomes from Digital Economy projects funded by £90m of grants, £40m of which was managed directly by the investigators named in the proposal. The majority of these projects are interdisciplinary collaborations which involved co-creation of research questions and approaches with creative industry partners, and all of them produced results which are ripe for translational impact. - Substantial cash and in-kind support amounting to pledges of £9m from 80 partner organisations. These include key organisations in the Digital Economy, such as the KTN, Creative England and the BBC, major companies such as BT, Sony and IBM, and a large number of SMEs working in games and interactive media. The host Universities have also pledged £3.3m in matched funding, with the University of York agreeing to hire four "transitional" research fellows on permanent contracts from the outset leading to academic positions as a Professor, a Reader and two Lecturers. - Strong overlap with current projects run by the investigators which have complementary goals. These include the NEMOG project to study new economic models and opportunities for games, the Intelligent Games and Game Intelligence (IGGI) centre for doctoral training, with 55+ PhDs, and the Falmouth ERA Chair project, which will contribute an extra 5 five-year research fellowships to the DC Hub, leveraging £2m of EC funding for translational research in digital games technologies. - A diverse and highly active base of 16 investigators and 4 named PDRAs across four universities, who have much experience of working together on funded research projects delivering high-impact results. The links between these investigators are many and varied, and interdisciplinarity is ensured by a group of investigators working across Computer Science, Theatre Film and TV, Electronics, Art, Audio Production, Sociology, Education, Psychology, and Business. - Huge potential for step-change impact in the creative industries, with particular emphasis on video game technologies, interactive media, and the convergence of games and media for science and society. Projects in these areas will be supported by and feed into basic research in underpinning themes of data analytics, business models, human-computer interaction and social science. The projects will range over impact themes comprising impact projects which will be specified throughout the life of the Hub in close collaboration with our industry partners, who will help shape the research, thus increasing the potential for major impact. - A management team, with substantial experience of working together on large projects for research and impact in collaboration with the digital creative industries.