Clubhouse adds spatial audio to hear discussions as in real life

The social network for chats by Audio Clubhouse is the first of its kind new technology So that its users in the digital discussion feel as if they are all in the same physical place.

This new feature, which has been recognized by the Clubhouse as “spatial sound”, on the platform’s official account on Twitter and a small example of how it works inside the app has also been shared.

Playing this spatial audio allows voices to be heard within the voice chat room As if they were coming from different places than a real room With the aim of making the listening experience more realistic, unlike traditional calls and video calls where all sounds come from a single point and can seem rather simple.

Unlike the surround sound found in many music recordings, the spatial sound of the stage will not need to be pre-recorded with specialized elements, since it Audio conversion performed in real time.

The technology used to create this effect is called Head related conversion function, known as HRTF for short, and the way it works is to allocate the participants’ speech to different virtual locations by adding a time delay between stereo channels and repeating the way they will emit high and low frequencies when entering the ear according to the origin of the sound.

Similar technology Used in virtual reality environments So that participants can listen to other users as if they were in a real environment, so that the audio is modified with respect to the estimated distance and location they would be in if an actual environment is.

As the company explained, this idea could have been developed to make the experience more interesting and enjoyable for users when trying to replicate what it feels like to belong in a conversation in real life. The decision may also have been taken as a precautionary step for Avoid exhausting users, which is something that has previously been seen in other virtual meeting apps like Zoom, as people are already tired of using the platform as an alternative to physical meetings.

This new type of sound will be included automatically, although it can be deactivated if the user wishes, and It will be tentatively available for the iOS version from the app. Similarly, Clubhouse has announced that among its plans is to add the same novelty to the Android version over the next few months. Regarding the headphones needed, the company clarified that any type of wired headphones can be used to listen to the new type of sound.

The past few months have been so busy with this new social network that they have recently left the testing phase for general use and have also added new functionality for direct messages. Little by little, this platform is gaining more and more strength and it is possible to be side by side with giants like Twitter and Instagram.

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