PAVAS: Physics-Aware Video-to-Audio Synthesis

TL;DR

PAVAS integrates physical reasoning into video-to-audio synthesis, significantly enhancing physical consistency.

cs.CV 🔴 Advanced 2025-12-09 7 views
Oh Hyun-Bin Yuhta Takida Toshimitsu Uesaka Tae-Hyun Oh Yuki Mitsufuji
video-to-audio physics-aware diffusion model multimodal audio synthesis

Key Findings

Methodology

PAVAS employs a Physics-Driven Audio Adapter (Phy-Adapter) and a Physical Parameter Estimator (PPE) to incorporate physical reasoning into a latent diffusion model. PPE uses a Vision-Language Model to infer object mass and a segmentation-based 3D reconstruction module to compute velocity. Phy-Adapter injects these physical parameters into the diffusion model to generate physically consistent audio.

Key Results

  • PAVAS achieved the highest Audio-Physics Correlation Coefficient (APCC) on the VGG-Impact benchmark, improving by 15% over existing models.
  • On the VGGSound dataset, PAVAS outperformed baseline models in both physical consistency and perceptual quality of audio generation.
  • Ablation studies showed that removing the Phy-Adapter significantly decreased the physical consistency of the audio.

Significance

PAVAS addresses the lack of physical consistency in existing video-to-audio models by introducing physical parameters. This approach not only enhances the physical realism of audio generation but also offers a new perspective for multimodal generation tasks, potentially impacting fields like autonomous driving and virtual reality.

Technical Contribution

PAVAS's main technical contribution is the direct injection of physical parameters into the diffusion model, significantly improving the physical consistency of audio generation. This method differs from traditional appearance-driven models, offering new theoretical guarantees and engineering possibilities.

Novelty

PAVAS is the first to introduce physical reasoning in video-to-audio synthesis, achieving physical consistency through the Physical Parameter Estimator and Physics-Driven Audio Adapter, distinguishing it from models focusing solely on visual-audio correlations.

Limitations

  • PAVAS may struggle with accuracy in estimating physical parameters in complex backgrounds or multi-object scenes.
  • The model's performance heavily relies on training data, potentially underperforming with insufficient data.
  • The computational cost may be high for real-time applications.

Future Work

Future work could explore more efficient physical parameter estimation methods or enhance model generalization by integrating other multimodal data sources. Additionally, computational optimization for real-time applications is a crucial direction.

AI Executive Summary

Existing video-to-audio generation models often rely on visual-audio correlations, neglecting the impact of physical factors on sound. PAVAS integrates physical reasoning into a diffusion model via a Physics-Driven Audio Adapter and a Physical Parameter Estimator, significantly enhancing the physical consistency of audio generation.

The core technology of PAVAS lies in the Physical Parameter Estimator, which infers object mass using a Vision-Language Model and calculates velocity through segmentation and 3D reconstruction modules. These physical parameters are injected into the diffusion model via the Physics-Driven Audio Adapter to generate physically consistent audio.

Experimental results show that PAVAS excels on both the VGG-Impact and VGGSound datasets, particularly in physical consistency and perceptual quality compared to existing models. Future work will focus on more efficient physical parameter estimation and computational optimization for real-time applications.

Deep Analysis

Background

The field of video-to-audio generation has seen significant advancements, particularly in perceptual quality and temporal synchronization. However, most models remain appearance-driven, overlooking the impact of physical factors on sound. PAVAS addresses this gap by introducing physical reasoning.

Core Problem

Existing models are largely appearance-driven and fail to accurately reflect the impact of physical factors on sound. This results in a lack of physical consistency in generated audio, limiting their effectiveness in real-world applications.

Innovation

PAVAS innovates by directly injecting physical parameters into the diffusion model. Through the Physical Parameter Estimator and Physics-Driven Audio Adapter, the model generates audio consistent with physical factors, significantly enhancing realism.

Methodology

  • �� Physical Parameter Estimator (PPE) infers object mass using a Vision-Language Model.
  • �� Combines segmentation and 3D reconstruction modules to calculate object velocity.
  • �� Physics-Driven Audio Adapter (Phy-Adapter) injects physical parameters into the diffusion model.
  • �� Diffusion model generates physically consistent audio.

Experiments

Experiments were conducted on the VGG-Impact and VGGSound datasets, evaluating physical consistency and perceptual quality. Baseline models included existing appearance-driven methods. Key hyperparameters included the accuracy of physical parameter estimation and the number of training iterations for the diffusion model.

Results

PAVAS achieved the highest Audio-Physics Correlation Coefficient (APCC) on the VGG-Impact benchmark, improving by 15% over existing models. On the VGGSound dataset, PAVAS outperformed baseline models in both physical consistency and perceptual quality.

Applications

PAVAS can be applied in fields like autonomous driving and virtual reality, providing more realistic audio experiences. Its physical consistency makes it suitable for applications requiring high-precision audio generation.

Limitations & Outlook

PAVAS may struggle with accuracy in estimating physical parameters in complex backgrounds or multi-object scenes. Additionally, the model's performance heavily relies on training data, potentially underperforming with insufficient data. The computational cost may be high for real-time applications.

Plain Language Accessible to non-experts

Imagine watching a video where a hammer strikes metal. A typical video-to-audio model might just produce a simple metallic sound, but PAVAS considers the hammer's weight and speed to create a more realistic sound. It's like cooking in a kitchen, where you not only consider the ingredients but also the heat and timing to make a delicious dish.

ELI14 Explained like you're 14

Hey there! Imagine you're playing a game with a scene where a hammer hits metal. Regular game sounds might just be a basic clang, but PAVAS thinks about the hammer's weight and speed to make it sound real. It's like doing a school experiment where you don't just look at the results but also consider the conditions to get accurate conclusions. Cool, right?

Glossary

Physics-Driven Audio Adapter (Phy-Adapter)

A module that injects physical parameters into the diffusion model to ensure the physical consistency of generated audio.

A key component in PAVAS for integrating physical parameters and visual features.

Physical Parameter Estimator (PPE)

A module that estimates object mass and velocity using a Vision-Language Model and 3D reconstruction.

Used in PAVAS to extract physical parameters.

Audio-Physics Correlation Coefficient (APCC)

A metric that measures the consistency between generated audio and physical parameters.

Used to evaluate the physical consistency of audio generated by PAVAS.

Diffusion Model

A generative model that creates data by gradually adding noise.

The core model used in PAVAS for audio generation.

Vision-Language Model

A model that combines visual and language information for reasoning.

Used in PAVAS to estimate object mass.

Open Questions Unanswered questions from this research

  • 1 Improving the accuracy of physical parameter estimation in complex backgrounds remains an open challenge.
  • 2 Computational optimization for real-time applications is still a significant hurdle.
  • 3 Integrating multimodal data sources may enhance model generalization capabilities.

Applications

Immediate Applications

Autonomous Driving

PAVAS can be used in autonomous driving systems to generate more realistic environmental sounds, enhancing safety and user experience.

Virtual Reality

In virtual reality applications, PAVAS can provide more realistic audio experiences, enhancing user immersion.

Long-term Vision

Smart Home

In the future, PAVAS could be used in smart home devices to generate more natural interaction sounds, improving user experience.

Abstract

Recent advances in Video-to-Audio (V2A) generation have achieved impressive perceptual quality and temporal synchronization, yet most models remain appearance-driven, capturing visual-acoustic correlations without considering the physical factors that shape real-world sounds. We present Physics-Aware Video-to-Audio Synthesis (PAVAS), a method that incorporates physical reasoning into a latent diffusion-based V2A generation through the Physics-Driven Audio Adapter (Phy-Adapter). The adapter receives object-level physical parameters estimated by the Physical Parameter Estimator (PPE), which uses a Vision-Language Model (VLM) to infer the moving-object mass and a segmentation-based dynamic 3D reconstruction module to recover its motion trajectory for velocity computation. These physical cues enable the model to synthesize sounds that reflect underlying physical factors. To assess physical realism, we curate VGG-Impact, a benchmark focusing on object-object interactions, and introduce Audio-Physics Correlation Coefficient (APCC), an evaluation metric that measures consistency between physical and auditory attributes. Comprehensive experiments show that PAVAS produces physically plausible and perceptually coherent audio, outperforming existing V2A models in both quantitative and qualitative evaluations. Visit https://physics-aware-video-to-audio-synthesis.github.io for demo videos.

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