ABSTRACT
This chapter presents and argues for the idea that presence derives mainly from the perception of sound. This is presence in both virtual environments such as computer games and in real-world environments. The definition of sound in Sonic Virtuality is: 'Sound is an emergent perception that arises primarily in the auditory cortex and that is formed through spatio-temporal processes in an embodied system'. Distal theories on the location of sound are typically argued for on the basis of our experience of the world around us. A number of audiological experiments have investigated sound localisation. In the theory of sonic virtuality, the assertion is made that the localisation of sound is an active localisation in which the listener places sound within the environment. As with definitions of sound, there is some debate over the definition of presence and, in particular, there is disagreement over the terminological relationship between presence and immersion.
