IBC Reflections: VR audio is in Nokia’s sights

Virtual reality was the star of the show at Nokia’s booth, where  getting the chance to scope out the latest model of the OZO camera and VR experiences from a Formula E race, as well as concert and film.

Nokia has established itself as one of the leaders in stereoscopic 4K and provides some of the most complete and sharpest images in the industry, but even they will be the first to admit, that’s only part of the experience. That’s why significant effort has been placed in the development of special sound editing on the back end to further bolster the experience for the end user. OZO Audio is the company’s spatial audio technology designed specifically for smartphone and consumer camera manufacturers.

“The brain is very good at detecting when something is wrong,” says Stuart English, Global Sales, VR Capture for Nokia Technologies. “In VR, you’ve got to have the sound sources tracking with the visual elements. We’ve got to add this extra dimension by going to spacial sound rather than just using a 5.1 mix.”

A VR sound mixer can use a visual tool that integrates internal audio sources from the OZO camera as well as external audio sources. The mixer can drag audio sources on a screen and place them or assign them to the destination in the image from which the sound is coming from.