Sound can make a VR world feel much more believable.
In Flock XR, sound is spatial, which means it comes from a place in your world rather than simply playing equally through both speakers.
If you play a sound from an object, it sounds as though it is coming from where that object is. Walk towards a waterfall and it gets louder. Turn your head and you can hear which direction it is coming from.
This can make a big difference to how a VR experience feels, because sound can help players understand what is around them even when they cannot see it.
Play sound from an object
When you play a sound from an object, the sound has a position in the 3D world.
For example, you could add:
- A power up sound to a heart
- A theme to a music player
- A low sound to a bouncing ball
- Footstep sounds to a character
As the player moves around the world, the sound changes depending on where they are in relation to that object.
Distance matters
A sound is at full volume when the player is close to the object.
As they move away, the sound becomes quieter. Once they are far enough away, they will no longer hear it.
In Flock XR, sounds from objects are roughly:
- At full volume within about 1 metre
- Gradually quieter as you move away
- No longer audible beyond about 20 metres
This is useful for making sounds feel as though they belong to particular objects or places.
It also means you should think about where the player is likely to be when the sound needs to be heard.
If an important sound source is a long way away, the player may not hear it yet.
Play sound from everywhere
Not every sound needs to come from a particular place.
If you play a sound from everywhere, it stays at full volume wherever the player is in the world.
This works well for sounds such as background music.
A simple way to think about it is:
From an object = the sound belongs somewhere in the world.
From everywhere = the sound belongs to the experience as a whole.
Use sound to guide the player
Spatial sound can also help players work out where to go.
A player does not have to see something before they know it is there.
You could place a sound on an object you want them to find.
When the player turns their head, they can hear which direction the sound is coming from.
As they move towards it, the sound becomes louder.
This means sound can be used as part of the experience itself, not just as decoration. It can encourage someone to turn around, draw them towards an important area, or give them clues about what might be nearby.
Speech in VR
Speech can also come from objects in the world.
When a say block is read aloud, the speech comes from the object that is speaking and becomes quieter as the player moves away.
Speech behaves slightly differently from a sound file.
The volume changes with distance, but the speech does not move between the player’s left and right ears in the same way as a spatial sound file.
Speech fades out completely at roughly 15 metres.
This still makes it useful for characters in VR, because nearby characters can sound louder than characters further away.
Headphones make direction easier to hear
You can hear spatial direction using a headset’s built-in speakers, but headphones can make the effect much clearer.
With headphones on, it is easier to hear whether a sound is:
- To your left
- To your right
- In front of you
- Behind you
Try standing still and slowly turning your head while a sound is playing from an object. You should hear the position of the sound move as you turn.
You don’t need special VR sound blocks
You do not need a special VR block to use spatial sound.
It is the same play sound block that you use when creating a project for a flat screen.
The difference is that in VR, the player can physically turn their head and move around the world, making the position of the sound much easier to experience.
This means a project you have already made can become more immersive in VR without needing a completely different sound system.
Try it
A simple way to experiment with spatial sound is to create a small world with several sound sources.
For example:
Enter the world in VR and try turning your head before moving.
Can you work out where each sound is coming from without looking?
Then walk towards and away from each object and listen to how the volume changes.
This is a simple way to see how sound can help turn a collection of 3D objects into a place that feels much more alive.