Though often overlooked, clever use of audio can hugely elevate an immersive experience into something good into something amazing. In an attempt to provide this experience to its augmented reality (AR) system, Magic Leap are partnering with audio company Sennheiser to bring spatial audio technology to the company.
Sennheiser will be bringing its AMBEO technology to Magic Leap in order to improve the immersion of AR. The AMBEO technology uses a process called ‘transparent audio’ which allows sound from the real world to be mixed in with sound from a user’s headphones, making it like an audio version of AR.
While Sennheiser did not confirm what product the new technology would be applied to, according to Venture Beat the company did mention that it would be discussing further news at the LEAP developers conference in October.
“Our spatial computing platform is uniquely designed in how it blends the digital world seamlessly and respectfully with the physical world,” Magic Leap product chief Omar Khan said. “The spatial soundfield is an integral part of the spatial sensory experience. This is why we partnered with Sennheiser … to help explore and enhance our spatial audio accessory solutions.”
“As we enter a new era of spatial computing … it thrills us to bring our AMBEO spatial audio expertise to drive forward this emerging field,” Sennheiser Ambeo boss Veronique Larcher said. “[We also plan on] working closely with the creative community.”
Some analysts say that by using the Sennheiser technology to handle audio, Magic Leap is more free to focus on the visual experience, and the technology might also help developers built better sound into AR experiences.
Magic Leap has started to ship its first product, the Magic Leap One Creator Edition. The response has been somewhat lacklustre, with many people criticising the quality of the AR experience, including Oculus founder Palmer Luckey.
For further coverage on Magic Leap and spatial sound, keep checking back with VRFocus.