adfa, p. 1, 2011. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011 “Changes”: an immersive spatial audio project based on low-cost open tools Edoardo Bellanti, Alice Corsi, Andrea De Sotgiu, Gianni Vercelli Università degli Studi di Genova - DIBRIS, Genova, Italia edoardo.bellanti@edu.unige.it, alice.corsi@dibris.unige.it, andrea.desotgiu@edu.unige.it, gianni.vercelli@unige.it Abstract. An immersive multimedia project, namely "Changes", is presented to show the potential and effectiveness of an immersive experience based on spatial audio narration. The experience allows the listener to live an experience that be- gins by immersing him in a natural environment, then taking him to a war sce- nario and then back again to nature. The purpose of the paper is to explain the importance of the audio component in a multi-sensory storytelling. Also, the will of the experience is to use free or low cost tools, in order that other people can easily take up the work and continue it or modify it. Keywords: Spatial Audio, Binaural Audio, Virtual Reality, Augmented Real- ity, Storytelling. 1 Introduction In recent years the terms "binaural audio" and "spatial audio" have assumed particular importance, mainly linked to the growing development and interest of virtual reality, which allows the immersive use of multimedia, video and audio contents. This technol- ogy is often automatically associated with the visual immersion, but, in reality, the sound component is crucial to increase the realism of the overall scene and, conse- quently, the involvement of the audience [1]. An example is the so-called Cinematic VR, which allows the use of 360° video through a head-mounted display equipped with headphones. In this particular field of virtual reality, in which the content is composed of an audio stream and a video stream, the sound component represents 50% of the experience [2]. Furthermore, virtual reality is only one of the application areas of spatial audio. "Changes" is an immersive multimedia project entirely based on the spatial audio technology [3]. The main goal is to create an immersive audio-based storytelling, trying to underline the value that the sound component can bring to a multi-sensory experience (ex: Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality). To do so, a virtual scene has been created, in which the audience is witness to the unfolding of a great change. All this was created