HWM Singapore – August 2019

PICTURE

SENNHEISE

R

and found a lot of end-usersdidn’t
understand what 3Daudiocoulddo.
Thus, we wanted toeducatethem
and bring the exhibition-typeof
sound into a soundbar.
From a technical perspective,a
sound bar is much easierthana
headphone, becausefora headphone
you have different ears...

You’re talking aboutHeadRelated
Transfer Function
Yup, that differenceis much
stronger in headphonesthanwith
a sound bar. You havethattoowith
sound bars, but it’salsogenerallya
more controlled environment,soit’s
easier from a technicalperspective.
Of course, I’m not sayingwewon’t
bring out dedicated3Dheadphones
in the future, but ifwedo,then
they must be alignedwithour
premium approach.
Then again, evenwiththesound
bar the (Sennheiser)familysaid,
let’s try to get everythinginto
one box, and it wouldbeniceif

wedidn’tneedbigspeakersanda

subwoofer.But,toproducegood

sound,youneedenoughphysical

volume,andalsogooddriversand

amplierssothatallcostsmoney.

Thetrendinthemarketis that

moreandmorecontentis being

producedasmulti-channelor

object-based,likeMPEG-Hand

DolbyAtmos.Forthesepurposes,

thesoundbaris nearlyperfect.

Butthere’salsostereocontent,

whichis whywe’veadded

up-mixingcapabilities.

Whatsortof special

considerationshaveto be

madewhenup-mixingfor

3D audio?Won’tyouneedto

createextrachannels?

Well,that’swhereoursecretslie.

*laughs*Butingeneralthereare

a lotofconsiderations;a lotof

psychoacousticstobeconsidered.

Forexample,if youwerewatching

a rockandrollsongonTV,andwe

placethesingertoyourback.Your

Immersive audio isn’t

one technology. It’s

more, a trend where the

visual impact is limited,

and you’ve got drivers

like VR and AR where

sound is essential.

brain would say there’s something

wrong because why is the singer

we see in front of us behind?

We have to be very careful because

the one criteria for success with

immersive audio is if your brain tells

you this is real. If the brain tells you

something is wrong, then the entire

experience breaks down. Not just

for pure audio, but also VR and AR

applications, because you lose the

localization of where the elements

are and that stops everything.

Why is everyone going into

immersive audio now?

It’s interesting, because immersive

audio isn’t one technology. It’s

more, a trend where the visual

impact is limited, and you’ve got

drivers like VR and AR where sound

is essential.

Actually, the video part in any

kind of movie was dominating for

decades. It was as though visual

effects and sound was nothing.

With VR and AR, I’d say there’s a

different role for sound, because if

the sound isn’t working with the

picture, than you can forget about

the illusion.

For example, if we’re sitting

in a café here, and have zombies

coming at us from there (points to

the front), then the zombie sounds

and the café sounds have to blend

perfectly. Otherwise, something

just isn’t right.

That’s why augmented reality

and virtual reality companies

hire dedicated sound people

and work with dedicated sound

companies like us, because they

realize that otherwise their

customers are not satis ed.

34 HWM | AUGUST 2019