Google Discovers Ambisonics and Says it’s the Soundtrack of VR or Something

Google, the company that makes a business out of anything that’s Open Source, announced its new Omnitone project, a platform that they say “brings spatial audio to the web in order to provide more immersive VR experiences, using only the Web Audio API.” The platform uses all the known spatial audio, ambisonics and binaural techniques, including several existing open source efforts, now released on a set of integrated tools that enable exploring immersive audio or spatial audio directly on a web browser.

An innovative 3D audio lab recently put into use at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA, gives undergraduates and graduate students experience with a 57 channel ambisonic environment for both hands-on learning and research. This innovate effort uses equipment from a variety of companies that produce Dante-enabled network audio gear.

This article discusses the plan for the new MPEG-H Audio standard, a real-time 3-D audio encoder system with applications for broadcast and streaming distribution, developed in large part by the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany, and recently finalized and submitted as an ISO/MPEG standard.

Pro Sound Effects has announced the release of NYC Ambisonics, its first sound effects library containing files captured with SoundField microphones and delivered in Ambisonics B-format bundled with SurroundZone2 software, allowing to point “virtual microphones” in any direction for greater control and creativity.

The Audio Engineering Society announced the recent publication of the AES69-2015 standard, which provides an important framework for the growing binaural and 3D personal audio industries. The standard, which describes the format and exchange of spatial acoustics files, is the product of the AES Standards Committee.

The AES 55th International Conference, focusing on Spatial Audio, is set to take place August 27-29, 2014, at the Helsinki Music Centre in Helsinki, Finland. Spatial Audio is currently one of the largest research topics in the field of audio, of great importance and interest for both the professional and consumer audio markets.