Our Stories

Brands can leverage location-based spatial sound by creating immersive sonic installations and soundscapes tailored to specific environments, like retail stores or offices. These soundscapes can be designed to shift in response to where a person is within the space, creating a dynamic audio experience that aligns with the brand’s message or mood. For instance, soothing soundscapes in stores can enhance customer relaxation, while spatial sound in offices can improve focus or well-being.

Who Did It Right?

• Two Zaha Hadid Architects projects featured Spatial Audio installations. At their 520 West 27th building near New York City’s High Line, the “City of Dreams Pavilion” was an immersive installation designed to respond to visitor movement, urban noise, and environmental changes. The soundscapes shifted dynamically as visitors moved through the space, blending with the organic architecture to create a meditative environment. Another project, “Loop Immersive,” used cutting-edge technologies, including Spatial Audio, to adapt soundscapes in real-time based on visitors’ movements and biometric data like heart rate. This 360-degree audio experience merged sound, architecture, and human interaction, creating a personalized, interactive environment reflective of the participant’s physiological state.

• Sonos integrated Spatial Audio into the listening rooms and showcases at their former flagship store in New York. Visitors experienced sound moving dynamically around them, simulating real-life environments with 3D audio. This demonstration showcased Sonos’ compatibility with Dolby Atmos, enhancing the experience of music, movies, or podcasts with immersive Spatial Audio. The setup allowed customers to experience how Sonos products perform in real-world settings, highlighting their surround sound capabilities in a tangible way.

• Aesop uses Spatial Audio in their stores to create calming, immersive environments that align with their minimalist brand aesthetic. In select locations, spatial soundscapes subtly shift as customers move through the space, enhancing the immersive experience. This dynamic audio adds to the serene, luxurious atmosphere, allowing customers to explore products in a multi-sensory setting that feels both tranquil and refined. The carefully curated 3D soundscapes perfectly complement the simplicity and elegance of their product line.

Brands can use spatial sound in VR/MR/AR to create immersive, multi-sensory experiences that enhance engagement and realism. By accurately simulating how sound behaves in the real world, spatial audio can help users locate virtual objects, navigate spaces, or experience branded content in a more engaging way.

In marketing, spatial sound can elevate product demos, virtual events, or storytelling by creating a sense of presence. This deepens emotional connections, making users feel more involved in the brand’s narrative, ultimately enhancing brand loyalty and recall.

Who Did It Right?

• MyTheresa’s VR Shopping Experience, designed for the Apple Vision Pro mixed-reality headset, allows users to shop in virtual settings like a Capri beachside or Paris at night, complete with sounds of waves, seagulls, or a photorealistic Eiffel Tower. Shoppers can opt for a less immersive experience by keeping their real-world surroundings visible. They can browse curated collections using eye and hand controls, view product details, add items to a Wishlist, and make purchases via Apple Pay. The immersive setting, with lifelike visuals and realistic sounds, offers a unique shopping experience, fostering emotional connections to the products within a brand-centric environment.

• Nissan’s VR Test Ride Experience lets users explore vehicle dynamics from home, enhanced by spatial audio for added realism and emotional impact. Users are immersed in the realistic engine sounds of the specific Nissan model they “drive,” with sound dynamically adjusting to actions like accelerating, braking, or cornering. The experience uses 3D spatial audio to simulate a real driving environment, where users hear passing cars, wind resistance, or the rumble of tires on different surfaces. Environmental soundscapes shift with the road type, and Nissan emphasizes in-cabin acoustics, from the near-silent drive of the Nissan Leaf to premium models’ sound insulation. Users can interact with features, triggering sound cues that enhance the realism. Custom soundtracks match each vehicle’s personality, from pulse-pounding scores for sporty models to ambient soundscapes for electric vehicles, with Nissan’s sonic logo seamlessly integrated at key moments.

• In Coca-Cola’s “Sleigh Ride” VR Experience, spatial sound plays a critical role in enhancing the immersive feel of the experience. As users move through the virtual world, the 3D audio shifts with them, making the sounds of jingling bells, gusting wind, and festive music seem like they’re coming from specific locations around the sleigh. This dynamic sound design matches the sleigh’s motion, deepening the feeling of being in a real environment. The spatial sound not only adds realism but also infuses a playful, magical quality into Coca-Cola’s holiday branding.

• Gucci incorporated spatial sound into their “Gucci Garden” VR experience on the Roblox metaverse to enhance the immersive environment. As visitors walk through rooms, they hear subtle shifts in soundscapes that reflect different brand themes, like nature or luxury, tied to Gucci’s identity. By incorporating dynamic soundscapes that align with these brand themes, the spatial audio adds depth, making the virtual exploration feel more tangible and engaging, allowing users to connect more deeply with Gucci’s digital identity.