DearVR 3D Audio Reality Engine Provides Immersive Acoustic Reality for VR Games and App

Dear Reality, a German technology startup, has developed a software to plunge into virtual worlds via ears. The dearVR 3D audio reality engine virtualizes all different kinds of acoustic settings with in depth realism to be used in audio production for virtual reality, games, 360° video, music and many more.

The dearVR technology works with any pair of headphones and produces a realistic, three-dimensional sound space around the listener. Just like natural listening, one will hear sound sources outside of the head with a genuine feeling of distance and directional reference.

“Taking 3D audio for VR and games one step further, we combined positional and distance perception with ultra-realistic virtual acoustics!” announced co-CEOs Achim Fell and Christian Sander. “From a car to a cathedral, from a small alley to a concert arena – with the included 45 virtual acoustic presets nearly any virtual scenario can be simulated. We are convinced to provide one of the most powerful 3D audio experience available today.“

The dearVR technology is suitable for a wide range of platforms (WIN, OSX, Android and iOS) and different media. The asset for the game engine Unity will be available in the Unity Asset Store from Friday, March 11, 2016 and officially released on the SXSW Interactive in Austin, Texas. Additional Versions for Unreal Engine, FMOD and VST will follow from Q3/2016.

“Sound is 50% of the experience!“ – Especially For Virtual Reality Experiences!!!

…Hollywood legend George Lucas once said. And what is true for film, applies equally to the production of games, virtual reality, and other interactive media: Sound design is of vital importance for an immersive experience in any audio-visual media. With 3D audio, sound design is given plenty of new opportunities plus a renewed emphasis on immersion.

For virtual reality, 3D audio is of even more importance, in fact, it is one of VR’s key technologies. Only in combination with high quality 3D audio, can a virtual world achieve a required degree of realism needed for acceptance by users.

3D sound – the future of audio

3D audio will change the listening experience in a wide variety of areas. It is a technology capable of simulating the usual spatial hearing via headphones. If you listen to common stereo audio via headphones, the perception of all sound sources is located inside your head – between your left and your right ear. With 3D Audio, you get the sound outside of your head where it belongs, appearing to emanate from a specific point – anywhere within a full 360° three-dimensional sphere. This gives audio production the ability to position sound objects behind, in front of, to the right or to the left of, and even below or above the listener.

The dearVR 3D audio reality engine does even more: It is able of simulating all different kinds of spaces. This is precisely because a convincing acoustic modeling of virtual environments needs more than just 3D spatial location. It has to combine different phenomena such as distance, motion, reflections, and reverb to a complete virtual acoustic scene. The dearVR 3D audio reality engine is capable of creating all these phenomena with just one plugin.

“With 3D Audio, it’s similar to 3D Graphics, everyone can do it! But creating realistic immersive 3D Graphics takes a lot of effort, as does 3D Audio,” Christian Sander states.

Dear Reality Team & Vision

Dear Reality team loves 3D audio engineering! As sound engineers, software developers, and game designers at the same time, the team developed their vision of the best 3D spatialization software for audio production. We call our dearVR technology, an audio reality engine because it can produce stunningly realistic auditory worlds comparable to natural listening. For this, the team listened back to our modeling technology over and over again and tweaked every parameter with professionally trained ears.

At Dear Reality, founded in February 2014, has created interactive sound design for games, virtual reality, and 360° video. With its in-house game productions and interactive concept, Dear Reality is focused on listening as the center of narration and storytelling.

Previous achievements:

• One-year start-up grant by the Media Founder Center NRW.
• The audio game App “39” – concept and production by Dear Reality – was nominated for the German Video Game Award 2015 in the category “Best Production”. It contains an early version of the dearVR engine and was download more than 90.000 times. The exhibition “Archeology of the future – Art and games” showed “39” side by side with renowned games like Limbo, Journey, and Dear Esther in April 2015 in Munich.
• The development of a prototype for our new game concept “Dear Maestro” – a serious music game for Virtual Reality – is supported by the Film and Media Foundation NRW.
• Dear Reality is “Culture and creative pilot Germany 2015” – awarded by the German Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy. The Award honors companies and people giving the cultural and creative economy a face and weight.

About the founders

Achim Fell – CEO and Co-Founder

Achim studied interactive applications and games and received a Master of Arts degree in Game Development and Research. As a sound engineer, he used to work for radio, play, and film production.

Christian Sander – CEO and Co-Founder

Christian is specialized in DSP development and spatial audio sound design. He has a degree in audio and video engineering and worked as a lecturer for interactive sound design.