[Dolby] Virtual reality filmmakers are discovering new things about the power of audio
Joel Susal, Dolby’s director of virtual and augmented reality.
Audio has always been Dolby’s bread and butter. The division Susal runs only came about in March—largely because Jaunt, a VR studio whose backers include Disney, was searching for audio technology to create immersive “3D” sound. One of Jaunt’s board members, Peter Gotcher, happened to be the chairman of Dolby, and helped make the connection.
Dolby turned out to be a good fit because it already had a technology that could be adapted for virtual reality: Dolby Atmos.
To translate Atmos to headphones, Dolby updated its algorithm to render audio in such a way that tricks the brain into believing sound is coming from multiple sources when there are only two speakers embedded in the headphone cups.
“It’s not really about the number of speakers,” explains Brett Crockett, Dolby’s vice president of research and development. “It’s about recreating spatial resolution.” To achieve this, Atmos directs the audio at specific angles so the sound waves bounce off parts of the ears before reaching the ear canal. (Dolby has also partnered with speaker manufacturers to create Atmos-enabled computer speakers and TV sound bars. In those products, the sound waves bounce off the ceiling to create 3D audio.)
Because VR viewers are constantly moving their heads to see different parts of a scene, audio needs to remain consistent, so that a knock from the door doesn’t appear to come from the wall just because a viewer changed positions.
Filmmakers also have to reconcile moving audio objects and stationary sound—an orchestral soundtrack, for example, that doesn’t come from any particular direction.
“This is a VR-specific feature that never existed before,” explains Susal.
See the full story here: http://qz.com/579185/virtual-reality-filmmakers-are-discovering-new-things-about-the-power-of-audio/