Beyond Reality

In virtual reality (VR), a new language of sound design is emerging. As directors grapple to find solutions to some of the inherent problems of telling a story in VR—for instance, the audience's ability to control the field of view—sound designers are playing a new role in subconsciously guiding the audience's attention and consequently, are framing the narrative. However, developing a new language of sound design requires time for creative experimentation, and in direct opposition to this, a typical VR workflow often features compressed project timelines, software difficulties, and budgetary constraints. Turning to VR sound research offers little guidance to sound designers, where decades of research has focused on high fidelity and realistic sound representation in the name of presence and uninterrupted immersion [McRoberts, 2018], largely ignoring the potential contribution of cinematic sound design practices that use creative sound to guide an audience's emotion. Angela McArthur, Rebecca Stewart, and Mark Sandler go as far as to argue that unrealistic and creative sound design may be crucial for an audience's emotional engagement in virtual reality [McArthur et al., 2017].