The ideas surrounding immersive audio experiences has been around for some time and with the advancements in technology surrounding Binaural recording there is real scope for employing these techniques, particularly in the field of mobile entertainment. The technique is fairly simple to perform as it requires only two transducers and a stereo recorder.
This recording method could be adopted by creators of mobile media for a diverse range of application including the obvious ones such as game, music, film but could prove equally as useful for news, podcasts, mobile phone applications such as city guides or anything that could benefit from giving the user more than just visual information but sonic stimuli also. An App for a restaurant, for example, could convey the sonic atmosphere to accompany visual images such as pictures of diners, menus or of the chef working in the kitchen. Surely an audio picture is just as important as a visual one when trying to sell an experience.
Companies such as Dolby, that have traditionally led the way in multi-channel surround using loudspeakers, are beginning to see the benefits of surround on the move and are coming very close to providing satisfactory surround experiences over headphones. They are, however, adopting very different approaches than the ones used to create Binaural experiences. These pseudo surround systems claim to give the mobile/headphone user a similar experience to the one offered by their home theater system. The technology that Dolby Labs is employing is no different to that used in studios to 'widen' stereo images etc. By various combinations, additions, subtractions and filtering of phase, similar effects to those offered by Binaural technologies can be achieved.
When Dolby Labs are producing equipment like this then you can safely assume that there is sufficient market demand for the products. It's whether or not the technology on offer is enough satisfy that demand still remains to be seen.
Here is the Dolby Mobile Solution:
Dolby - Dolby Mobile Demo
And a description of how it works here:
From Youtube:
No comments:
Post a Comment