PHIL: Sound adds realism
Gillies, Lindsay ([email protected])
Mon, 17 Apr 1995 13:51:05 -0500
I'm moved to comment on maribeth's comments on Inlined Sound Support.
Perhaps we end up with a little too much virtual and not enough reality
when more code heads and fewer other-domain experts are involved. Sound can
add a tremendous amount of verite to graphics, (1) but only if it behaves as
we experience it out here. And beyond "normal" behavior, (2) if there's a
cheap way to deliver sophisticated sound spatials (e.g., HRTF) it would also
be a cheap way to increase the persuasiveness of a VR environment. As mb
points out, sound doesn't behave all that much like light, and it
particularly is not mentally digested like light. Think about the relative
costs of a sound track for Star Wars (aside from paying Mr. Williams to
study Mahler) vs. the visual costs, and then sit in a well-designed house
with Dolby etc. VR should get a similar (large) bang for the (small) buck.
I don't mean that specification is simple or code heads useless (as one
myself), just that from the end-users' point of view building space with
sound is cheap and persuasive. It can cover the multitude of sins of
omission to which inevitably 3D graphics will be prone.