Despite the accelerated growth of Disney + and the popularity that HBO Max is gaining, Netflix remains the world’s leading streaming service with 208 million subscribers worldwide. For that reason millions of people have long been asking the company to adopt the spatial audio technology that Apple users have liked so much.
A company spokesperson mentioned 9to5Mac Y The Verge that the streaming service will begin to support spatial audio for all subscribers in the world who enjoy the platform through an iPhone or iPad with iOS 14 or iPadOS 14.
Currently only HBO Max, Disney +, and Apple TV + were the only streaming services that supported spatial audio.
What is spatial audio?
This audio technology allows for an immersive acoustic experience. However, to be able to enjoy it, it is necessary to have AirPods Pro or AirPods Max.
Apple’s support page describes spatial audio as follows:
“Spatial audio with dynamic head tracking brings the theater experience directly to your headphones. By applying directional audio filters and subtly adjusting the frequencies each ear receives, spatial audio can place sounds virtually anywhere in space, creating an immersive surround sound experience. Using the gyroscope and accelerometer in your headphones and your iPhone, spatial audio tracks the movement of your head and your device, compares the movement data, and then reallocates the sound field so that it remains anchored to your device even when your head is move ”.
To make this description clearer, the spatial audio of streaming services is different from the spatial audio of Apple Music. The music service seeks to create this immersive experience to make you feel like in the studio, in such a way that your ears capture the depth of the instruments and the positions in which they were accommodated in a studio.
In services such as Netflix, HBO Max or Disney +, what spatial audio does is redirect the sound from the source, that is, if you speak to someone from the front and turn your head, one ear will pick up more sound than the other because the waves go directly to him. It is just that effect that spatial audio technology offers in video streaming services. Feeling that you hear the voices and sounds as if you were there.
Apple is also working to bring spatial audio technology to macOS and tvOS.