Dynamic echo?

[LB]

A common "cool thing" in games is dynamic lighting. Directional sound is even more common. But what I am having a hard time researching is dynamic echos - that is, in-game sound that reverberates off of surfaces, partially getting absorbed and partially getting re-emitted. There's also pitch shifting but that's easy enough when comparing velocities, unless you want to also account for the speed of sound meaning that sound actually travels.

Are there any games or libraries that delve into this world and implement a more realistic sound system? How computationally expensive is it, or would it be?

[ResidentBiscuit]

I'm having a hard time thinking of when this would even come into play. I get what you're saying, but in a video game how often are you in a situation where distinguishing an echo would even be possible?

[MiiNiPaa]

How computationally expensive is it, or would it be?

I bet single sound source would be comparable to single dynamic lightning source. I mean, really dynamic — reflecting from surfaces (mirror can light previosly dark places by reflecting light), tinting surfaces with light color, mixing different lights correcly.

Correct wave simulation might be even more costly that raytracing, but I think with some speedhacks they will be brought to the same level.

Of cource games will probably use simplified model with precalculated geometry and distances.

[LB]

ResidentBiscuit wrote:

I'm having a hard time thinking of when this would even come into play. I get what you're saying, but in a video game how often are you in a situation where distinguishing an echo would even be possible?

In a networks of tunnels?

@MiiNiPaa: Precalculating sounds like a good idea in my case, as the environment will only change in known ways based on user input.