#EUsavesLives Roadshow: Humanitarian Operations with Spatial Audio Workstation

The #EUsavesLives VR experience, developed for the European Commission, aims to vividly show citizens how the EU helps in crises worldwide.

This article details the technology and its application. For this project, I traveled for DG ECHO (Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection) to Belgium, Denmark, and Bangladesh to create immersive 360° footage, later incorporated into a VR app for the roadshow.

The team will continue supporting external downloads of the Audio360 Encoder application, ensuring ongoing access to this tool for preparing 360 videos for platforms like Facebook.

Introduction to Spatial Audio in Humanitarian Operations

Spatial audio is a groundbreaking technology that captures the “where” of sound, transcending the traditional limits of two-channel stereo recordings.

By creating a three-dimensional soundscape, spatial audio allows listeners to perceive the direction and distance of audio sources, making it an invaluable tool in various fields, including humanitarian operations.

In the realm of humanitarian efforts, spatial audio can be used to create immersive experiences that simulate real-world environments. This capability is particularly beneficial for training and preparedness exercises for emergency responders.

By placing trainees in a virtual environment with realistic soundscapes, spatial audio enhances situational awareness and response effectiveness.

Moreover, spatial audio can be leveraged to develop engaging and interactive educational content for humanitarian organizations. This approach not only improves knowledge retention but also facilitates the transfer of critical information in a more impactful manner.

For instance, spatial audio can recreate the sounds of a disaster zone, helping aid workers and volunteers better understand the challenges they might face.

Implementing spatial audio in humanitarian operations requires specialized equipment and software. Digital audio workstations (DAWs) and spatial audio plugins are essential tools for capturing, editing, and mixing spatial audio content.

One notable software suite is the Facebook 360 Spatial Workstation, designed for creating spatial audio for 360 video and cinematic VR. This tool can be effectively applied to humanitarian operations, providing a robust platform for designing immersive audio experiences.

What is Spatial Audio?

Spatial audio allows soundscapes to be created, drawing audiences deeply into virtual experiences. This technology is used across multiple fields—from large-scale sound installations like the Sphere in Las Vegas to music production. 3D audio offers advantages like immersive sound experiences in music, theater, and film.

In art installations and VR projects, music plays a crucial role in spatial audio design. Spatial Audio Designer, for example, allows for precise placement of sound sources, creating a natural audio space that simulates realistic, immersive environments.

Unlike Dolby Atmos, which is primarily used in film production and not ideal for 360° videos, and MPEG-H, which is commonly used in broadcasting, spatial audio is perfectly suited to create dynamic, authentic soundscapes in VR.

The Technology Behind Spatial Audio

Spatial audio technology enables the creation and playback of audio content in a three-dimensional space. It leverages human hearing’s ability to locate sounds to create realistic, immersive experiences. At its core, spatial audio involves audio objects positioned in space to form a three-dimensional sound landscape.

Logic Pro integrates with Dolby Atmos, enabling users to effectively place audio elements in a three-dimensional space while mixing.

A key tool here is Spatial Audio Designer by New Audio Technology. This powerful tool provides an intuitive interface for audio designers to position objects in space and adjust their properties.

The Spatial Audio Designer supports a range of audio formats, among them MPEG-H and Dolby Atmos, which makes it possible to build highly detailed and immersive sound worlds. That flexibility makes it an indispensable tool in modern audio production.

The #EUsavesLives Roadshow: Spatial Audio Applied in VR

The #EUsavesLives roadshow set out to build a deep awareness of EU missions in crisis regions. In the VR experience, realistic 360° footage was complemented by spatial audio to place viewers acoustically at the deployment sites in Belgium, Denmark and Bangladesh.

Reliable monitoring systems played a decisive part here, allowing the audio content to be checked and adjusted throughout the roadshow.

• Belgium (ERCC, Brussels): Here the immersive sound simulated the busy atmosphere of the Emergency Response Coordination Centre, the EU’s crisis coordination hub. Viewers heard clear instructions and communication between the response teams, letting them follow the decision-making up close.

• Denmark: The acoustic treatment of the earthquake exercise in Denmark called for particularly realistic and dynamic recordings, to convey the tense mood of response teams in a real emergency. With spatial audio we could give visitors the feeling of standing in the middle of it while simulated rescue operations were carried out.

• Bangladesh: The extreme conditions in the Rohingya refugee camp posed their own challenges, met with the right combination of object-based audio and authentic ambience.

The sound carried the life of the camp and let viewers perceive the everyday sounds of its residents from different directions, so the acoustic reality of the place came across with real intensity.

Technical Challenges and the Role of VRTonung

The production was demanding both logistically and technically. Thanks to my experience as a specialist for stereoscopic 360° videos and VR experiences, I was able to meet every one of those challenges.

The shoot demanded a high degree of flexibility: using the Kandao Obsidian camera and a robust set of spatial microphones, I was able to capture the dynamic and complex soundscapes on location.

Integrating the different audio technologies during production was decisive in creating a seamless immersive audio experience.

But the challenges did not end with the shoot.

Post-production was an involved process. Because the VR experience was offered in seven languages, the sound design had to be adapted individually for every language version. Bringing those versions into one consistent, immersive sound world called for precise work and careful mixing.

Digital audio workstations played a central role in creating and editing the audio content, particularly where Dolby Atmos was involved. The spatial and object-based elements had to keep their immersive effect regardless of language, and synchronising the tracks demanded the highest accuracy.

Even so, using spatial audio workstations such as Two Big Ears and the Spatial Audio Designer by New Audio Technology, I was able to guarantee seamless multilingualism and interactivity.

Key Tools and Formats for Spatial Audio

Creating an acoustically immersive experience called for a range of tools and techniques:

• Two Big Ears: This platform proved the right tool for the immersive audio of the VR experience, since it was built specifically for spatial sound worlds in 360° video and VR applications.

• Spatial Audio Designer (SAD): As a powerful plug-in from New Audio Technology, the SAD allowed precise, spatially distributed positioning of sound sources, and with it an authentic rendering of each scene in the crisis regions.

• Pro Tools and Ableton Live: These DAWs, supported by dedicated spatial audio plug-ins, proved indispensable for the complex multichannel mixes that carried the #EUsavesLives roadshow. Current versions of both offer additional support for Dolby Atmos and Apple Spatial Audio.

• Professional studios: Using and adapting virtual studio rooms is essential for creating binaural and immersive listening experiences, which underlines how much professional studios still matter in creative audio production.

The acoustic treatment of these crisis scenarios showed how capable and how nuanced spatial audio can be in bringing the emotional depth of an event closer to a listener.

The Future of Spatial Audio in Humanitarian Work

The future of spatial audio in humanitarian work looks genuinely promising. The technology can be applied in areas such as disaster relief, healthcare and education, to create immersive and realistic audio content that helps listeners grasp complex information and put themselves into a situation.

A particularly striking example is the use of spatial audio in disaster relief. With it, aid workers can create immersive audio content that puts the people affected by a disaster at the centre and helps them understand critical information.

By positioning emergency services and aid organisations in the sound field and adjusting their acoustic properties, a realistic and compelling soundscape can be built that offers orientation and support to those affected.

Taken together, spatial audio opens up a wide range of possibilities for immersive and realistic audio content across many fields.

Conclusion: VRTonung, the Specialist for Immersive 360° Sound Production

The #EUsavesLives project shows how powerful spatial audio is as a storytelling instrument, and what part it plays in immersive VR experiences.

As a specialist for stereoscopic 360° video and immersive VR experiences, I was able to meet the complex demands of the EU roadshow and, through spatial audio, build a deep emotional connection with the audience. Precise sound design and specialised technology made the subject of EU humanitarian aid audible.

This project stands as an example of where spatial audio in VR is heading, and shows how the combination of 360° video and immersive sound creates a lasting, memorable experience that goes well beyond conventional audiovisual presentation.

Planning a VR or 360° project? Let’s talk.

VR needs sound that deepens the immersion rather than disturbing it.