Juergen K. Singer works at Mental Images, the company that creates Mental Ray, a render that is part of Maya, the software that is created by Alias, where I work. Here's an article he wrote for Physicsweb.
PhysicsWeb - The special effect of physics
He brings up an interesting point, rendering sound really isn't too different from rendering light, since both have wave properties. I can hardly wait to see, erm.. hear it as a new feature of the commercially available renderers.