TMCnet Feature Free eNews Subscription
February 20, 2014

Voxeet Latest to Add 3D Sound to Conferencing

By Doug Mohney, Contributing Editor

Earlier this week, Voxeet announced the latest version of its audio conferencing application will support high quality 3D sound. The company becomes the latest to get onboard the spatial audio train for conference experience.



Voxeet 2.0 is a peer-to-peer client application available on Apple (News - Alert) iOS, Android, and PC desktop clients. This latest version provides "3DHD" audio that provides a high-quality, spatial listening experience, with an engine that filters out background noise, echo, talk over, and adjusts for differences in each participant's audio level.

Participants show up in a "room" with avatar representations. Each participant can move around participants "closer" or "farther" away to increase or decrease individual speaker volume, with the best effects coming from the use of headphones to provide a full stereo experience. You can place speakers to  virtual "left" or "right" to further distinguish them, with headphones providing the "position."

If you need to speak with an individual in a sidebar point, you can go into Whisper mode for a private, one-on-one discussion while the rest of the conference continues in the background. Other participants might notice you aren't speaking, but otherwise don't know a private conversation is taking place.

Other features include a single click call transfer between devices, WebRTC-based audio stack, a user interface that enables on-demand calling invites and simplification of tasks like call transfers, plus the usual integration with contact lists and Facebook (News - Alert).

The current client supports up to 8 participants, with a forthcoming Pro version of Voxeet supporting more people.  A number of enhancements  are on the roadmap, including more collaboration features such as screen sharing and conference recording with transcription.

I spent about 30 minutes using Voxeet with company CEO Stephane Giraudie.  The sound quality was -- of course -- much better than anything you'd get from an analog call and as good or better than you can get from many typical soft clients using G.722 or SILK. I have mixed feelings about the 3D audio, mostly due to the fact you have to wear headphones to get the full effect. I don't have to put on a headset every time I participate in a conference call and I'd like to see an "ears free" method to do 3D in the future.

Time will tell if 3D proves to be a big pull in conferencing.  BT (News - Alert) and Dolby are "all in" for promoting high sound quality, 3D-style conferencing at the enterprise level,  giving Voxeet an opportunity to make its mark in the SMB/distributed teams space.  However, earlier efforts to introduce higher voice quality into conferencing did not take off, with the vast majority of businesses focusing on price per minute rather than opting for a better sounding solution.




Edited by Cassandra Tucker
» More TMCnet Feature Articles
Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. [Free eNews Subscription]
SHARE THIS ARTICLE

LATEST TMCNET ARTICLES

» More TMCnet Feature Articles