Facebook Buys 3D Audio Firm Two Big Ears in Virtual Reality Push

Pushing its virtual reality (VR) dreams, Oculus VR parent company Facebook on Tuesday acquired Edinburgh-based company Two Big Ears that specialises in spatial 3D audio in cinematic and gaming experiences.

Facebook will make the Two Big Ears' "3Dception" technology free for developers as part of their new "Facebook 360 Spatial Workshop," TechCrunch reported Tuesday, while Oculus will also derive benefits.

"Further progress in building hyper-realistic 3D audio is a major get for Facebook video and the Oculus platform," the report added.

Both the Gear VR and Oculus Rift support the immersive audio technology and the fact that Facebook is opening up Two Big Ears' 3Dception technology for free to developers is a nice move to keep content creators happy.

"Starting today, our pipeline for cinematic VR and 360 video, including the authoring tools, encoder and rendering engine are available for free. We're excited to be able to continue developing great tools for a larger number of people across the world... 3Dception for Games will no longer be a separate product but we will be working with the Oculus team to combine our expertise and create best in class VR audio. Existing Pro customers will continue to receive support in accordance with your current agreement with Two Big Ears for the next 12 months.," Two Big Ears said in a blog post.

Two Big Ears technology focuses largely on how sound plays in 3D spaces and how it interacts with surfaces that surround the viewer.

Terms of the deal weren't disclosed yet.

Written with inputs from IANS