lines of work : stereo to 3D audio

applied contexts – e-LEARNING / LANGUAGE TRAINING

Audio is one of those highly critical, deeply unknown and less seriously treated elements on web and mobile UXs. Its huge cognitive/emotional potential also represents a fascinating, somewhat unexplored land…

Until recent times, a certain technical economy (band-width, file weight, etc.) had been used to justify the so-called “visuals-first” approach on web/mobile and the relegation of sound to subsidiary roles, i.e, its forced drop in quality. However, in the last few years, the explosion of VR/AR/MR has triggered a renewed interest in sound quality – as a primary ‘convincing’ factor when it comes to hyperrealistic, virtual experiences. Consequently, more and more investment is being placed into high-end sound productions at a consumer level. Rather sooner than later, most of the low-res audio-based content (mp3, 2D-audio) will have to be either remastered or just replaced by hi-res content.

In the context of a language learning platform, an ‘audio-first’ approach to e-learning couples audio fidelity (high resolution) with 3D spatial resolution in order to create an utterly new dimension for the learning process.