Reporting by XinZhiyuan
Edited by: Peach David
【Introduction to the New Wisdom Element】What is most lacking in the metaverse? Listen to immersive sounds that you haven't experienced before.
When it comes to metaversities, most people will focus on "seeing" and seeing what kind of virtual worlds.
However, few people care about what they will "hear". This is where people are negligent in the metaverse.
unbelief? You come and feel it.
If there is no sound in the metaverse
A 2013 sci-fi film, "Her," tells the story of otaku writer Theodore who falls in love with the slightly hoarse, sexy voice of the artificial intelligence system Samantha.
At the time, director Spike Jonze abandoned the original voice actor and replaced it with Scarlett Johansson. She never appeared on the show, but her timbre was voted the sexiest timbre of the year.
Those of us who have seen the movie know that although the computer operating system Samantha has never appeared in real person, it is crucial to grasp the emotions needed to create a three-dimensional character image.
Sound is not only the key to creating a flesh-and-blood character, but also a key element in the world of the Explosive Element universe.
As The Washington Post points out, many of the key elements of the metaverse already exist in the video game world. In the game world, sound plays an increasingly important role.
Roblox CEO Dave Baszucki once said that to build a metaverse, the following characteristics need to be met:
A virtual identity; realistic real-life social; logins from any location; extremely low latency; massive and diverse content; a complete economic system; security and stability.
If the metaverse is to be complete, it also needs flexible digital sound in a high-quality, immersive and smooth experience, otherwise it is not a complete virtual world.
What else is missing in the metaverse?
In an interview with The Washington Post after Facebook changed its name to Meta, Zuckerberg said that many of the futuristic experiences in the metaverse can already be found in games, but they are still separate from each other.
And Meta's mission is to somehow unite these experiences and make them as easy as clicking a link on today's internet.
For example, the famous virtual platform game Roblox, which is a very powerful virtual reality game platform, its internal experience is quite similar to the metaverse that Meta claims to build.
Roblox is a massively multiplayer online game creation platform where users can design their own games, items, looks, and costumes, as well as play a variety of different types of games created by other developers, all coded using the programming language Lua.
In contrast to Minecraft, which is close to the metaverse experience, Roblox is a Steam-like gaming site and app that is primarily a LEGO brick-style social networking virtual world game.
In the game world, voice plays an increasingly important role. Without rich, high-quality, realistic digital sound, the metaverse would be incomplete and unable to provide an inclusive and immersive experience.
For example, if a player encounters a bearded, burly knight in a game, they want the character's voice to be low and thick. To achieve this, voice actors and audio experts craft NPC sounds to provide an immersive experience.
However, in the future metaverse, players will have very different experiences. You may be surprised to hear an unexpectedly clear voice instead of the expected husky mature voice. Serious inconsistencies between sound and vision can ruin the immersive experience.
In addition to immersion, sonic recognition technology can also put the player into a "real" cover state. This state can become a form of protection in a hostile online environment.
For example, it can mask its own regional accent and achieve smoother integration of the player community. And for people with voice defects, it is possible to cover up physical defects that they do not want to disclose.
Voice changing technology can also help mitigate online discrimination and harassment. A 2019 study published in the International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction noted that female gamers are often reluctant to communicate with other gamers. And voice changing technology allows them to play more freely.
Researchers at Human-Computer Interaction concluded back in 2014 that "voice has fundamentally changed the online gaming experience, making virtual spaces more social."
A truly immersive experience requires a combination of 3D visuals and real-time audio, allowing people to express themselves in the way they want to be heard.
Not only is Avatar unique, but the experiencers in the metaverse also want their voices to be chic and carefully customized. As expressed in the phrase "Before you see them, hear them first."
"Real-time voice" can show people their ultimate personality and become an excellent equalizer for the virtual world.
Unfortunately, the current voice experience is also challenging to truly immerse players in the virtual world.
Because of the limited tools to shape a person's voice to match their avatar, the sound quality does not yet match the visual quality.
Still, many platforms and game developers strive to provide the latest solutions available that enable writers, producers, and audio engineers to combine voice modification techniques in their games to generate natural and fantastical sounds on demand in real time.
Without sound, the metaverse would be incomplete.
Resources:
https://techcrunch.com/2021/12/14/sonic-identity-is-the-missing-component-for-social-metaverse-experiences/