Understanding Spatial Audio in Gaming: A Deep Dive with Marcos Simon of Audioscenic

Spatial audio has brought in a new epoch of immersive experiences in the past few years, and its future has never been brighter. With blockbuster movies adopting Dolby Atmos and streaming services integrating binaural audio, the immersion transcends conventional boundaries. The gaming industry, in particular, is spearheading this revolution. As AAA developers pour resources into refining spatial audio dimensions, gamers are plunged into auditory realms that augment gameplay realism. Marcos Simon, the mastermind Co-Founder and CTO of the U.K.’s emerging spatial audio trailblazer, Audioscenic, shares his insights on the industry’s current trajectory with Magnetic Magazine. With Audioscenic’s pioneering approach, the dream of mainstream immersive audio might soon be realized.

In this interview, Simon delves into the nuances of spatial audio, its implications for gamers, and how innovations like Audioscenic’s “Amphi” are poised to redefine auditory experiences. Whether you’re a seasoned gamer or a curious tech enthusiast, Simon’s perspective offers a comprehensive understanding of how spatial audio reshapes our digital worlds’ soundscape. Dive in to grasp the future of audio in gaming and how it’s set to change your auditory encounters.

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Where do you feel that spatial audio currently stands for consumers as a technology, specifically for gaming?

We live in an exciting moment for spatial audio – specifically for consumers and gamers – as new spatial audio technologies are being developed and ever-improving sound design is used in games. Modern game engines can provide highly realistic audio, and the number of platforms in which this audio can be experienced by gamers – i.e. Consoles, PC, VR headsets, handheld devices, etc – have never been wider. To that end, developers like us have been exploring new ways of bringing completely immersive spatial audio experiences to gamers in ways that make them a part of their regular gaming experience. Our technology – Amphi – is an outgrowth of these efforts to give consumers the power to listen to spatial audio in more practical situations.

From a cost perspective, is investing in spatial audio hardware worth the potential improvement in the gaming experience?

Absolutely! Spatial audio increases the feeling of listening to sounds to make the experience more natural; this is very important for a gamer. Being immersed and synced to the game enhances the experience immeasurably while providing loads of practical advantages in games that rely on localizing sounds. For example, in the case of first-person shooters, having that localized sound ensures you know where your opponents are help ensure your survival!

Why are the most exciting advances in spatial audio experiences coming out of the gaming industry?

The gaming industry is a pioneer in spatial sound synthesis. For decades, game engines have been using object-based audio – something that is only just emerging into other consumer formats now. 

Popular game engines like Unity or Unreal can synthesize complex sound scenes that provide high spatial audio realism to the user. The gaming industry has never shied away from embracing technology that brings realism and immersion to the experience, which means they are usually early adopters of new ideas. This, combined with the rise and continued improvement of VR audio, has put gamers at the forefront of the most boundary-pushing spatial audio experiences.

How do the configurations and setups of currently available home theater and headphones impact the spatial audio experience? 

Surround sound setups are great for watching movies – if one has the space and is willing to put cables and speakers boxes around them. However, this is not entirely practical for most people and is even more problematic for desktop gaming setups, where space is typically much more limited than in a living room.
Surround sound also has certain quirks coming from a cinematic format that limits complex sound design because it’s designed to have directionality tied to specific speaker positions.

Headphones are efficient, and gaming headsets incorporate a microphone for communicating with team members. Getting good spatial sound from headphones is tricky, however, as humans are not used to hearing sound from close to their ears, making it difficult to get good localization in the front or good sound externalization.

The advantages of technologies like the Audioscenic Amphi based in cross-talk cancellation – the delivery of independent signals to each ear, i.e., like “virtual headphones” through the air – is that it is a digitally native format not tied to presumed external speaker positions (such as Atmos) that allows the user to perceive a very externalized and natural sound experience with speakers just in front of the user. Apart from that, it only requires speakers in front of the user to deliver this experience to be implemented in everyday practical devices like a soundbar or a laptop.

Are there any exciting breakthroughs or developments in the realm of spatial audio for gamers, and consumers at large?

For games, the biggest advancements in the game engine spatial sound are mainly being pushed by VR and developments in speaker systems that can provide spatial sound experiences. An example is the Razer Leviathan V2 Pro, which we collaborated on with Razer and THX to provide this experience. Products like these make the spatial audio ecosystem easier to understand and adopt by the average consumer and increase the quality of the experience tangibly.

For our part, Audioscenic is working hard to change the way that consumers understand and experience spatial audio. In the next couple of years, we will see more systems using Audioscenic technology with which users could consume spatial audio more practically, everyday without requiring significant investments in new or specialized equipment.

What would you say to a gamer skeptical about the value of spatial audio or working it into their home setup?

From an Audioscenic point of view, we would invite them to try a system using our technology (like the Razer Leviathan V2 Pro) and allow them to understand how the gaming experience can be much more immersive when using the right spatial audio setup.

Getting the right audio setup in your house can be tricky. Still, a soundbar like the LV2Pro can provide the same experience as a surround sound setup (or even better), as it can radiate direct binaural audio from the game engine – with the comfort and practicality of a soundbar!