Binaural audio is thought to be the next standard for immersive applications in the fields of virtual reality, music and video games.
The research will generate a complete software and hardware solution for sound designers, music producers and recording artists and it will be possible to test the resulting technology in experimental audio guides the Ópera Garnier in France and Die Pinakotheken in Germany.
Barcelona, April 10, 2017 – The European BINCI project is developing an integrated software and hardware solution to facilitate the production, post-production and distribution of immersive 3D audio content. It will be possible to test the resulting technology in experimental audio guides for the Ópera Garnier in France and Die Pinakotheken in Germany.
According to Adan Garriga, the Director of Audiovisual Technologies at Eurecat, the project “will generate a complete software and hardware solution for sound designers, music producers and recording artists. It will principally be aimed at small companies and entrepreneurs”.
The calculations for the project indicate that the integrated BINCI approach will have a considerable impact on turnover for the creative industries. Even taking into account just the production of binaural 3D content for audio guides in cultural and tourist destinations around the world, it is estimated that the project could generate between 10 and 20 million euros per year in direct and indirect income for companies in the sector.
Moreover, this solution will also allow for the creation of immersive binaural 3D music and other binaural content for interactive applications in the fields of virtual reality, augmented reality and video games. In the words of Garriga, 3D audio “is a new and emerging creative trend based on the idea that sound is composed of a given space, in which the sound flows around the listener”.
With 3D music, he explains, “the movement of sounds, melodies and rhythms through the space will change the processes of creative production as well as the musical experiences of the listener, so that the space will be transformed into a new, expressive language for artists and listeners alike”.
With this aim in mind, the solutions developed and the experimental productions created with immersive 3D audio will be tested in real environments, in order to prepare the ground for their commercial application in the marketplace.
BINCI will emphasise the project’s demonstrable robustness and scalability in handling different sets of binaural content, particularly from the perspective of the professional end user. Consequently, the project has also gathered together a group of audio producers, who will take part in the tests conducted on the project’s tools and work flows.
The perspective of the end user and the market will also be taken into account, through the creation of experimental productions that will be exhibited and tested on real visitors to major sites of cultural and tourist interest such as the Opera Garnier and Die Pinakotheken.
According to Garriga, binaural audio “is thought to be the next standard for applications in the fields of virtual reality, music and video games”. Thus, BINCI aims to provide the tools for small and medium-sized companies in Europe’s creative industries to “take the lead in the forthcoming binaural revolution for 3D audio content”.
Among other things, the BINCI project will develop income-generating binaural measurement systems, a digital instrument for creating 3D music, a binaural content player for mobile devices, specialist headphones for listening to binaural audio, and a series of binaural 3D audio and music samples and productions generated by the trials and tests performed by professionals from the audio industry.
The consortium behind the BINCI project, which forms part of the Horizon 2020 initiative, comprises the Eurecat technology centre, Antenna, Head Acoustics, 3D Sound Labs and Voodoopop.