VR Audio Comparison

Steam Audio

Challenges

• Video resources for Steam Audio are outdated (from when it was called Phonon)

• Requires a lot of settings changes to get audio as realistic as possible

Advantages

• Supports custom HRTF files in SOFA format

• Has per-object materials as opposed to per-room

• Software kept up to date for many platforms

• Works well with SteamVR and the Vive Headsets

Resonance Audio

Challenges

• Per-room materials as opposed to per-object

• Relies on more static baking than dynamic audio which increases scene complexity and lowers dynamic quality

• Requires a few settings changes to get audio as realistic as possible

• Does not support custom HRTF files

Advantages

• Software kept up to date for many platforms

• Works well with SteamVR and the Vive Headsets

VRWorks Audio

Challenges

• Requires a long setup time

• Software branch is quickly becoming outdated

• Very few resources/tutorials online

• Only supports Unreal Engine via plugin (with an unofficial Unity port with no documentation)

Advantages

• Once VRWorks Audio is set up, everything is automatically ready for spatialized audio

Objective Experiment

Loudon Cohen