3D Audio: A New technological Experience

               I had never heard of Wave Field Synthesis before seeing this installation, and I have to say I was pretty amazed. I am not going to talk about the technology, but more about the experience and how this technology felt. I will also talk about the possible ways this technology could be introduced into other entertainment industries.

            When I first entered the room it was extremely dark, and was only lit by the projection on the screen and one iPad in the middle of the room on a stand. A person greeted me and gave me a quick summary of the technology and then touched the “Demo” button on the iPad. This demo showed us two things. The first being the speakers in regular stereo mode. This was like any other speaker or headphone I had heard before, but the quality was some of the best I’ve heard. Then she switched it to the Wave Field Synthesis mode. At first it sounded the same, but then I started walking around the room and the sound was following me. I got some chills from this; it really caught me off guard.

            She then tried two other modes; both of them involved the listener moving and understanding that innovation of this technology. We first had to stand in specific circles that were projected on the ground. Each circle we stood in we could hear a different instrument, and the other instruments faded out. This happened because the instrument was being played through specific speakers somewhat directed towards the circle you stood on. I don’t know exactly how it worked, but if you stood outside the circle you couldn’t hear the instrument anymore. The next mode was when the circles moved and you had to follow it. The instrument followed you as well. You could be standing all the way across the room and could still hear only that instrument, then move to the other side of the room and still hear it. It was freaky. The best way I could describe it was like the best headphones you’ve ever heard split into a large speaker. So you can hear the panning and the mixing of the instruments and vocals, but now it followed you.

            I could see this technology being used in every movie theater, in every studio, in every car, or in every home speaker. I can see me sitting on my couch in my room doing homework and all the sound is being projected onto me in my bed so no one else in the room, or the room next to me, can hear it. Or at a party/concert and you want to project certain songs, sounds, or instruments onto different parts of the audience. Movie theaters would be that much better of an experience. I could watch one scene and hear a completely different sound effect or song just because I am sitting in a different part of the audience. Or if a sound crosses the screen it would really cross the audience. Mixing songs would be ten times easier in a studio, because you could have multiple people listening and mixing different parts of a song at one time. Driving in a car would be so much more pleasant. Let’s say someone is sleeping in the car and you have all the music being listened by the driver, so the sleeper wouldn’t be interrupted my music. There is so much potential for this technology it excites me. There are so many applications. It definitely wasn’t perfect yet, but some tweaks and I can see this as the next norm for listening to sound.