4 ms·

Any thoughts on spatialization or panning? I feel like it could help a lot, but also making it a good experience could involve head tracking, since most people

Any thoughts on spatialization or panning? I feel like it could help a lot, but also making it a good experience could involve head tracking, since most people are (hopefully) not accustomed to speaking in a different direction than the person they're speaking to.

krapht 6y ago
I dream of the day when our laptops come with an integrated microphone array with automatic beamforming based on head tracking.
- lowdose 6y ago
  I wish Tinder came with the ability to beam me up.
- microcolonel 6y ago
  I mean, automatic beamforming microphones are actually fairly common now, in laptops. Head tracking is probably a detour if your goal is just to get good clear voice input.
- tinus_hn 6y ago
  Some HP laptops have this and it’s terrible. Perhaps it would be useful if it selected the right sound 100% of the time but in reality all you get is audio cutting all the time with no explanation.
squeaky-clean 6y ago
I used to use panning back when I played WoW "seriously" and did 25 man raids, it makes hectic audio chat sooo much more clear. Some gaming voice apps can dynamically pan voices in 3D to match where the characters are, but I didn't use any of that. Just simply putting Guild Leader center, Tanks ~25% right, Healers ~25% left, and then randomly throwing everyone else somewhere wider in the stereo field. It sounds like an actual group of people rather than a single overlapping mono mess.
- tomlagier 6y ago
  How did you set this up?
  - squeaky-clean 6y ago
    It was built into whichever voice-chat software we were using, just a simple right-click action. This was a long time ago, so I don't totally remember, probably 2008-2012 or so? Trying to jog my memory with Google and I think it was TeamSpeak and the "3D Sound" feature. I feel like Mumble may also have been able to do this.
    - tomlagier 6y ago
      That's a really cool idea, thanks for the heads up. Didn't realize it was possible but man would it make a world of difference in meetings.
- baq 6y ago
  i hope product managers of ms teams/zoom/meets are reading this thread, this is pure gold right here
- frosted-flakes 6y ago
  A podcast I listen to with 4-5 people talking in a room does that with its audio. It sounds like a good idea, but in practice, it drives me nuts and makes me feel like I have plugged ears. I always enable mono audio when I listen to it. I think if it was dynamic, where turning my head towards the person speaking balanced the audio (like in real life), I would not have a problem with it. A super simple form of virtual reality that would only require a simple head-mounted gyroscope or motion sensor. Another podcast I listen to has two people with very similar voices, and I sometimes have a hard time figuring out who's speaking, so I welcome any advancements in this space.
  - faeyanpiraat 6y ago
    Haven’t they messed up positioning, and reduced the volume too much on the further ear side?

krapht 6y ago

I dream of the day when our laptops come with an integrated microphone array with automatic beamforming based on head tracking.

lowdose 6y ago
I wish Tinder came with the ability to beam me up.
microcolonel 6y ago
I mean, automatic beamforming microphones are actually fairly common now, in laptops. Head tracking is probably a detour if your goal is just to get good clear voice input.
tinus_hn 6y ago
Some HP laptops have this and it’s terrible. Perhaps it would be useful if it selected the right sound 100% of the time but in reality all you get is audio cutting all the time with no explanation.

squeaky-clean 6y ago

I used to use panning back when I played WoW "seriously" and did 25 man raids, it makes hectic audio chat sooo much more clear. Some gaming voice apps can dynamically pan voices in 3D to match where the characters are, but I didn't use any of that. Just simply putting Guild Leader center, Tanks ~25% right, Healers ~25% left, and then randomly throwing everyone else somewhere wider in the stereo field. It sounds like an actual group of people rather than a single overlapping mono mess.

tomlagier 6y ago
How did you set this up?
- squeaky-clean 6y ago
  It was built into whichever voice-chat software we were using, just a simple right-click action. This was a long time ago, so I don't totally remember, probably 2008-2012 or so? Trying to jog my memory with Google and I think it was TeamSpeak and the "3D Sound" feature. I feel like Mumble may also have been able to do this.
  - tomlagier 6y ago
    That's a really cool idea, thanks for the heads up. Didn't realize it was possible but man would it make a world of difference in meetings.
baq 6y ago
i hope product managers of ms teams/zoom/meets are reading this thread, this is pure gold right here
frosted-flakes 6y ago
A podcast I listen to with 4-5 people talking in a room does that with its audio. It sounds like a good idea, but in practice, it drives me nuts and makes me feel like I have plugged ears. I always enable mono audio when I listen to it. I think if it was dynamic, where turning my head towards the person speaking balanced the audio (like in real life), I would not have a problem with it. A super simple form of virtual reality that would only require a simple head-mounted gyroscope or motion sensor. Another podcast I listen to has two people with very similar voices, and I sometimes have a hard time figuring out who's speaking, so I welcome any advancements in this space.
- faeyanpiraat 6y ago
  Haven’t they messed up positioning, and reduced the volume too much on the further ear side?