“Dolby Atmos – Feel Every Dimension” (Laboratories, 2016)
“Dolby Atmos transports you into the story with moving audio that flows all around you with breathtaking realism” (Laboratories, 2016)
Dolby Atmos has taken the world by storm with surround sound by paving the way for creating an experience for the consumer that is the next level of realism either in the cinema or in the home theatre system.
If we take a step right back into history, movies have been around for centuries, since the 1890’s to be exact, and have always been a form of entertainment, catering to the tastes of individuals with all kinds of genres. If we look at how technology has improved over the years, films have also progressed dramatically. Audiences expect more from every release, but this poses the question, how much more is there to give?
Movies have advanced to incredible levels and with computer animation now as advanced as it is, props and even humans can be transformed into non-human characters for eg. Avatar, that you can also experience in 3D.
Gone are the days of stereo audio being enough for the consumer, we want more, we want realism, we want to feel as though we are taken on a ‘real’ experience. With the introduction of Dolby Atmos 5.1 Surround Sound, the audience becomes more immersed than ever.
Then of course the introduction of Dolby Atmos 5.1.2 and 5.1.4 where sound is also projected from the roof of the room, creating an even more ‘real’ experience for the consumer, referred to as 3D sound. Not only are you receiving sound waves from a horizontal perspective, but also vertically. The same way a 3D image increases the realism of a standard 2D image. Perhaps even more ‘real’ than real itself?
It is important to note however that in real life, we as humans are more sensitive to sounds coming at us from a horizontal dimension as opposed to from above vertically, so although you would expect more from an added vertical dimension, surround sound designers are focussing on increasing the horizontal dimension, as we are more responsive to this region and can become immersed deeply in the sound field. After all, we rarely receive sound reflections from above, so downward roof speakers can be very unnatural.
Virtual Reality is another marvel of audio and visual technology which is a concept we are all familiar with these days. This kind of technology takes you instantly into another virtual world, generating realistic sounds, images and other sensations that replicate a real environment. NASA is using virtual reality technology to train astronauts and simulate life on other planets ie. Mars. It’s the most accurate way for astronauts to understand the environments they could face.
In terms of visual media advancements, hologram technology has taken a new height recently with objects including animals and people that appear as though they are in the same room but are made purely of light. This kind of technology is bringing the human interaction element back into technology.
With the recent invention of the Microsoft HoloLens, the first fully untethered holographic computer, which brings 3D holographic content right into our world by enhancing the way we experience life beyond our ordinary range of perceptions. Car companies such as Volvo are designing vehicles which include this technology, even universities are redesigning the way students learn. Most incredibly NASA is using HoloLens technology to explore planets holographically.
So where do I think the future of surround sound and visual media is going? That’s a great question, we don’t really know where it could end up. However my predictions are that based on the enhanced human experience that these advances bring, we as consumers will want to experience this heightened level of humanism as much as we can afford it. HoloLens technology may only appeal to certain organisations in its early stages of development. Surround sound advancements have grown and many homes experience 5.1 surround sound in their homes, but could this lead to completely virtual homes with a heightened level of sound experience in every room? Only time will tell. I don’t believe films will be replaced entirely as a form of entertainment with this kind of technology, however we may discover that the cinematic experience becomes even more interactive over time.
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