Immersive audio is nothing new. But its use has been accelerating in recent years, particularly among production companies and event agencies. The latter are increasingly recognizing its potential as an effective means of engaging their audiences. Indeed, the use of immersive audio is proving to be a powerful tool for enriching and rendering more realistic a wide variety of experiences.
First of all, close your eyes and test it out: our natural sound environment is three-dimensional and dynamic: our hearing distinguishes front, back, side, top, bottom…
Thanks to huge advances in sound recording techniques and technological resources, in the space of a century we have gone from the most basic listening modes to the most sophisticated audio renderings. Monophony, the recording and reproduction of a single channel, gave way to stereophony. Then formats multiplied, from multichannel to binaural, with the possibility of simulating dynamic listening: a spatialized sound universe that adapts to your movements.
As audio rendering becomes more realistic, listeners are plunged even deeper into worlds created from scratch.
Binaural sound is a recording technique that uses two special microphones to create the illusion of 360-degree sound. The listener perceives the sounds as if they were happening around him or her. The effect is maximized with headphones. This technique is far more realistic than simple stereo recording. We used binaural sound on Composition(s), our experiment combining sound and gastronomy, which you can find here.
A binaural sound reference (headphones compulsory)
Multichannel sound is a sound recording and broadcasting technique that uses more than two channels to create a more immersive and realistic listening experience. This means that sound can be diffused through different speakers placed around a room, enabling sounds to be precisely localized in space. Multichannel sound is used in home cinemas (5.1, etc.), movie theaters, art installations and special events.
3D sound is the real-time format. In addition to spatial localization techniques, a software application is added to make the sound evolve live, according to your progress in a game, or the movements of your head. You are at the center of a sound universe, and become an active participant in it. For example, if you hear a bird on the right, you’ll hear it on the left if you rotate your head. This dynamic aspect is particularly important when designing interactive experiences. This increases immersion tenfold, because the higher the realism, the greater the user’s engagement.
It’s the most popular sound format for virtual reality and video games. Its advantage over other formats is its dynamic, real-time scalability.
What are the advantages of the different immersive audio formats?
The advantage of binaural audio is its flexibility: it can be accessed with any consumer equipment. All you need are headphones to enjoy the experience.
The advantage of multichannel is its ability to be much more immersive than stereo broadcast through loudspeakers, making for a more collective experience.
The advantage of 3D sound is that it’s interactive, evolving according to your movements and actions.
From its beginnings to the launch of the first VR experiences, immersive audio is growing fast in many sectors, offering an infinite range of creative possibilities.
Examples abound in a wide variety of sectors.
Starting with music, of course: Apple, with Dolby Atmos, equips its AirPods and AirPods Pro users with accelerometers and gyroscopes. This technology enables Spatial Audio to be combined with real-time head tracking, enhancing the sensation of audio sources being located in space.
Apple has also initiated a partnership with Mercedes Benz: the German brand has created a limited-edition model in collaboration with Virgil Abloh. This is one of the first cars in the world to feature a 4D audio system. The system encompasses 31 speakers, including six 3D speakers that broadcast sound from above, four near-ear speakers in the front seats, an 18.5-liter subwoofer, eight acoustic transducers (two per seat) and two amplifiers for a total power of 1,750 watts.
In France, Devialet, a company focused on high-end speakers and sound systems, has installed an immersion cube in its Paris store. The cube is around 20 meters long and is equipped with eight Phantom speakers, which reproduce the sound of aircraft engines taking off. “We had to create this immersive sound to convey an emotion and give the user the impression of being at the heart of the action when they close their eyes,” explains Pierre-Emmanuel Calmel, president and founder of Devialet.
Another example: the famous TUDOR watch brand invited 60 guests to an outstanding dinner, featuring dramatic video projections surrounded by immersive sound. We created the sound design, making full use of the 12 speakers spread throughout the room, in direct collaboration with the venue’s sound architect. To find out more about this project, please click here.
To conclude, if you’re not already thinking about how to integrate immersive sound into your next project, we can be your creative and technical partners. We can imagine and produce customized sound worlds, propose hardware and technical solutions and implement them.
The soundscape of the future will be just as immersive and engaging as the image.
And while this technology still has a long way to go, the opportunities to explore immersive audio to enhance engagement will be ever more numerous.
