The Best 3D Audio Experience Examples

Major advancements in audio engineering and supporting technology have fundamentally changed the way engineers and developers use sound to create immersive experiences inside both video games and web applications.

For many industry-leading development studios, real-time spatial audio has become a unique competitive advantage. If you haven’t invested in 3D audio for your game or app development firm, your competitors surely have. Moreover, most consumers now expect their favorite video games or applications to support powerful spatial audio and dynamic audio-visual experiences.

Of course, there are hundreds of unique use cases for spatial audio. In this article, we’ll highlight the top 3D audio experience examples. In this way, you’ll have the reference material and inspiration to craft your own immersive audio environment.

5 Amazing 3D Audio Experience Examples

Fortunately, it’s never been easier to add real-time spatial audio for your game or application. In minutes, you can create a developer account and launch a simple web application using High Fidelity’s real-time Spatial Audio API.

Recently, Hubbub partnered with High Fidelity to create digital meeting spaces that enable users to work together even when they’re miles apart. Additionally, spatial audio enhances the overall audio experience inside the application. Unlike flat, mono sound, spatial audio provides a rich and immersive experience for users.

Here is a list of the industry’s top 3D audio experience examples that you can draw inspiration from as you build your own game or web application.

1. New York City in 3D Audio

This video offers a humorous and entertaining introduction to binaural audio. As the host points out, ASMR videos are becoming increasingly popular on YouTube, highlighting a consumers’ growing obsession with immersive audio.

To make binaural audio work, you’ll need a pair of microphones that simulate human hearing, as well as left and right output channels.

Of course, sounds hit our ears at different volumes and different times. Before the sound reaches the opposite ear, it bounces off walls and ceilings, changing the waveform’s timbre or shape.

2. Battlefield V in 3D Audio

Explosions rumbling in the distance, wind rushing past your face as you leap out of a plane — prepare to be immersed in glorious sounds from the get-go.

This video captures the dynamic movement of sound blending between the foreground, midground, and background of our awareness.

3D audio allows you to “see” where each sound is coming from, making it hyper-realistic. Audio spatialization helps us judge the position of each blast, scream, and approaching vehicle.

It's hard not to feel like you're the hero wielding the rifle, flying a plane, taking cover behind a tank. From tanks firing and rifle rounds collecting at your feet, the layers of sounds bring you to the center of the action.

This can get rather startling when a vehicle roars up next to you, inches from crushing you against a rock wall. The 3D audio helps you experience those "close calls" with pure adrenaline like it’s really happening — elevated heart rate included.

3. Fortnite in 3D Audio

With 3D audio, you can approximate the acoustics of any virtual environment in life-like detail. This not only immerses you into the game, but it can also help you improve your in-game strategy.

Game developers are starting to include 3D audio as a menu option. For example, Fornite enables users to “turn on” 3D audio spatialization. In this way, gamers have a bit of a strategic advantage. For example, enemies can be tracked above and below you. Additionally, 3D audio makes it simple and easy to locate valuable items quickly; items emit a louder sound as you draw closer.

4. London in 3D Audio

If you're looking for a practical example of how real "sounds," then this video is for you.

Not as extreme as a battle in a video game, this stroll through London does a superb job showing how everyday sounds are infinitely complex.

You start on a subway and walk up the stairs, hearing the distinct voices of chatter and feet clanging up the stairwell. The musician playing the guitar swells as you walk past and fades into the background while ascending the escalators to the street.

The 3D audio captures it in rich detail, putting you on the street next to the crowd.

5. Bonus: Zoom With Spatial Audio

Mono and stereo audio, which is the norm for Zoom calls, is locked into a linear, 90-degree range. From your ears’ point of view, that's only a quarter of the depth of what we're used to hearing since sounds occur in 360 degrees.

After the spatial audio is engaged, the audio flows from all around, opening up each voice to three-dimensional space. Dimensionality is a significant advantage on Zoom calls, allowing you to hear multiple speakers simultaneously.

You know when people are trying to talk at the same time, and you can't make anything out? Spatial audio makes each voice intelligible and clear so that you can understand every word.

Use High Fidelity to Add Spatial Audio to Your Game or App

As you can see, more applications and games are benefiting from the rich, immersive audio experience that only spatial audio can provide. From heroic first-person battles to quaint city walking tours, the use cases for spatial audio are boundless.

How will you leverage the power of spatial audio for your unique game or app? To get started, we recommend creating a free developer account. In minutes, you’ll have everything you need to build a simple web application that has voice chat. Simply consult our free resource library and start building your app today – it’s that easy!

The Best 3D Audio Experience Examples