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Environmental Audio
On the other hand, EAX (Environmental Audio Extensions) is an API developed by Creative for use by developers to add Environmental Audio to their products.
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Occlusions occur when the sound source, in this case the blue thing at the top, is in a different enclosure from the listener. In the diagram, the white guy at the center is in the orange room, while the blue thing at the top is outside the room. Thus, if the listener is the white guy and the blue thing is playing back a sound, it should be muffled. Imagine playing a stereo in a room and then shutting the doors. Much of the sound would not be able to pass through the walls and the door, creating an occlusion. |
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Obstructions are similar in nature with occlusions, but the listener needs not be in a completely different enclosure from the sound source. Once there is an object blocking the direct path from the object to the listener, the sound will be slightly muffled. The sound heard should only be the sounds reflecting off the walls and back to the listener. |
As you can probably imagine, occlusions and obstructions are very beneficial to first-person games. Without occlusions and obstructions, gamers are easily mislead to think that another person is in the same room with him, when he is actually in a nearby adjacent room. With EAX 2.0, gamers will be able to know if a person is right behind him, or actually inside a room that is behind him.
The IA-SIG (Interactive Audio Special Interest Group) has created the I3DL2 (IA-SIG Interactive 3D Audio Rendering Guideline Level 2) as a guideline for 3D audio development in the industry.
It is based on a subset of the EAX 2.0 API. Since I3DL2 is based on EAX, which has its roots in the SBLive! family of cards, it would not be difficult to add support, since current drivers already have EAX 2.0 support. Creative will add support for I3DL2 after Live!Ware 3.
Creative has announced the EAX 3.0 API, allowing developers more control over sound parameters to create more immersive environments.
Instead of keeping the EAX API proprietary, Creative has released the specifications so that other sound card manufacturers can include EAX in their products. However, the quality of the effects produced will ultimately depend on the quality of the effects processing capability of the sound card.
The SBLive! will most probably be used as a reference when game developers tweak EAX support in their games. This may mean that the SBLive! has the most accurate EAX reproduction (as intended by the developers), although it does not stop other sound card manufacturers from coming out with a better implementation of EAX.
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Environmental Audio is a term used by Creative to describe the ability of the Sound Blaster Live! to model the acoustic characteristics of an environment and place sounds in them. For example, game designers can place the gamer in a tunnel with sounds being echoed loudly, or swimming underwater with muted sounds. With Live!Ware 3.0 drivers, the SBLive! can handle up to 4 environmental audio effects simultaneously.