Surround-sound systems go beyond stereo by adding a center front speaker, two or four rear speakers, and a subwoofer for dedicated bass output. A stereo system records two signals, left and right the listener plays them back through a pair of loudspeakers or headphones-again, one for the left, and one for the right. Today’s most widely used audio format is two-channel, or stereo, sound. Here’s how we think we’ll be able to up the ante in virtual reality. And developments currently in research laboratories, including mine here at Dirac Research, in Uppsala, Sweden, hold out the promise of truly lifelike virtual-reality audio in just a few years. Some virtual-reality producers have already begun using limited, first-generation 3D audio technology to improve on two-dimensional stereo and surround sound. It’s a big challenge, but not at all insurmountable. For a lifelike experience, engineers need to duplicate the precise directionality and position of every sound-from above and below, far and near, behind and ahead-and update it dynamically as the user moves within the virtual world. But there they would remain, no matter how much you move around in the virtual environment. Sure, a stereo recording played through headphones might place the sound of a sports announcer in your right ear and the coaches’ chatter in your left. Unless what you are hearing convincingly matches the visuals, the virtual experience breaks apart. Virtual reality needs to be about more than visuals. If the players, the coaches, the announcers, and the crowd all sound like they’re sitting midcourt, you may as well watch the game on television-you’ll get just as much of a sense that you are “there.” But to work powerfully, virtual reality needs to be about more than visuals. Today the technology to create the visual component of these virtual-reality (VR) experiences is well on its way to becoming widely accessible and affordable. Turn your head to the left to hear the violins more strongly turn it to the right and hear the cellos and brass section a little above the rest. From your front-row seat, the 109-person orchestra before you simmers quietly at first, then roars to life, its sound enveloping you. Now you’re at the Gothenburg Concert Hall, whose acoustics are ranked among the best in the world. Turn your head and the sound spins with you the announcers in the broadcast booth are in front of you, the court sounds behind. You hear players trash-talking on the court in front of you and coaches yelling from the bench to your left. Now you are courtside at a basketball game. Laser rifle shots whiz by your head military shuttles hover before you the frantic calls of comrades hail from all directions. Then head over to the site for a report about binaural audio's history and current renaissance.Put on your virtual-reality headset and be transported to a distant planet, ducking the crossfire in a battle between alien species. The proof is in the pudding: Check out the video above from The Verge to experience binaural audio for yourself. While purely visual VR experiences can be made, adding 3D audio greatly magnifies the impact and depth of a VR experience." "When sound is perceived to come from the same direction as a visual stimulus, the credibility of the virtual experience is greatly increased. Richard Marks, senior director of research and development at Sony Computer Entertainment America, in an interview with The Verge. "3D audio adds to the feeling of presence that we strive so hard to achieve with the visuals in VR," said Dr. Oculus VR licensed technology from RealSpace3D for the built-in headphones in Crescent Bay, the latest Oculus Rift prototype, and the software development kit for Sony's Project Morpheus VR headset includes a custom binaural audio solution. The catch is that it only works with headphones, although people are currently working on ways to support external speakers.ĭo you see the connection? Binaural audio does for sound what virtual reality does for visuals. The effect is stunning - binaural audio is able to recreate a sound field so the listener feels like they were actually there when the recording was made. They're made with specialized equipment: two microphones placed on either side of a stand or dummy head, sometimes embedded inside ear-shaped appendages on that head. But binaural audio is now experiencing a revival because it's uniquely suited for a very modern technology: virtual reality.īinaural recordings are designed to pick up sound exactly the way human ears perceive it. You're probably unfamiliar with binaural audio, a technology that dates back all the way to the late 1800s but, for a variety of reasons, fell by the wayside while mono and then stereo sound became audio industry standards.
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