Iain McGregor
Iain McGregor

Dr Iain McGregor

Associate Professor

Biography

Dr Iain McGregor, Associate Professor at Edinburgh Napier University, specialises in interactive media design and auditory perception research. His PhD in soundscape mapping examined how sound designers’ expectations compare with listeners’ experiences. With over 30 years of experience, he has worked across film, video games, theatre, radio, television, mixed reality, robotics, and auditory displays, exploring soundscapes, sonification, and human interaction. His patent Evaluation of Auditory Capabilities (WO2024041821A1) informs accessibility, user experience design, and auditory technologies. His research extends to human-robot interaction, where he investigates how naming conventions influence perceptions of robotic personalities, as well as sonification for scientific analysis, auditory alerts in healthcare and transportation, and immersive audio in virtual and mixed reality. Dr McGregor collaborates with industry and academia, applying his expertise to film, robotics, and interactive media. He integrates auditory technologies with creative methods and currently consults for companies in mixed reality and robotics, shaping advanced auditory interfaces. Alongside research, he mentors MSc and PhD students, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration among designers, engineers, and cognitive scientists. He also contributes to curriculum development, aligning courses with advancements in sound and interactive media design.

News

Events

Esteem

Fellowships and Awards

  • Sound Design student Joanna Zachariasz nominated for Cinema Audio Society award

 

Media Activity

  • How sound technology will ensure a quiet day at the office.

 

Reviewing

  • Paper Reviewer, UIST 2025
  • Reviewer & Program Committee Member, AM/ICAD 2025 (Joint Conference)

 

Date


92 results

A Perceptual Approach to HRTF Personalisation: From Localisation to Spatial Literacy

Report
Mcgregor, I. (2025)
A Perceptual Approach to HRTF Personalisation: From Localisation to Spatial Literacy
Efforts to personalise Head-Related Transfer Functions (HRTFs) have traditionally focused on anatomical accuracy, modelling the head, ears and torso to predict how sound shoul...

PEMS: Peoples Experience Of Mountain Soundscapes

Presentation / Conference Contribution
Donato, B. D., & Mcgregor, I. (2025, June)
PEMS: Peoples Experience Of Mountain Soundscapes. Presented at Forum Acusticum / Euronoise 2025: 11th Convention of the European Acoustics Association, Málaga, Spain
This study investigates the role of soundscapes in mountain environments, focusing on their contributions to safety, navigation, and environmental understanding. A survey of 2...

Audio Occlusion Experiment Data

Data
McSeveney, S., Tamariz, M., McGregor, I., Koniaris, B., & Mitchell, K. (2025)
Audio Occlusion Experiment Data. [Data]
This dataset comprises anonymous user study participant responses of audio occlusion to investigate presence response of body occlusions in the presence of sound sources in th...

PEMS: People Experience of Mountain Soundscapes

Presentation / Conference Contribution
Di Donato, B., & McGregor, I. (2024, June)
PEMS: People Experience of Mountain Soundscapes. Paper presented at Forum Alpinum 2024, Kranjska Gora, Slovenia
This research delves into the intricate relationship between mountain auditory environments and the mountaineering experience, shedding light on the influence of individual so...

Scottish Mountain Soundscapes

Presentation / Conference
Di Donato, B., & McGregor, I. (2024, June)
Scottish Mountain Soundscapes. Presented at Invited seminar at UniMont, University of Milan, Edolo, Italy
Mountain environments provide an immersive auditory experience shaped by natural forces and human interactions. This seminar presents results from an ongoing project that delv...

The digital Foley: what Foley artists say about using audio synthesis

Conference Proceeding
Di Donato, B., & McGregor, I. (2024)
The digital Foley: what Foley artists say about using audio synthesis. In Proceedings of the 2024 AES 6th International Conference on Audio for Games
Foley is a sound production technique where organicity and authenticity in sound creation are key to fostering creativity. Audio synthesis, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and In...

What Do Robots Sound Like? Ep 01 - Dr Iain McGregor

Digital Artefact
McGregor, I. (2024)
What Do Robots Sound Like? Ep 01 - Dr Iain McGregor. [Podcast]
Interviews on the topic of sound for human-robot interactions. Game audio designer Ali Tocher enjoys long form conversations with a wide range of guests. This episode’s guest ...

Hearing Abilities Assessment

Patent
McGregor, I. (2024)
Hearing Abilities Assessment. W O 2024/041821 A1. World Intellectual Property Organization International Bureau
A method for assessing hearing abilities of a human person having two ears, the method comprising: - providing two audio signals to two respective ear speakers at a person's c...

Investigation into Stress Triggers in Autistic Adults for the Development of Technological Self-Interventions

Conference Proceeding
McGowan, J. J., & Mcgregor, I. P. (2023)
Investigation into Stress Triggers in Autistic Adults for the Development of Technological Self-Interventions. In Proceedings of the 25th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '23). https://doi.org/10.1145/3597638.3608392
Adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) face daily challenges dealing with stress, for example, at work, or in public spaces, which can be overwhelming in terms of coping w...

FASS: Firefighter Audio Safety Systems

Presentation / Conference Contribution
Elliot, A., & McGregor, I. (2023, August)
FASS: Firefighter Audio Safety Systems. Presented at AM '23: Audio Mostly 2023, Edinburgh
A series of auditory cues were designed to assist firefighters with navigation and general safety in a fire emergency. Firefighters must maintain situational awareness at all ...

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