How spatial audio works
Voices get louder as you walk closer, just like real life.
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How does spatial audio work in flat.social?
In an Open Spatial room you hear people based on where they are. Someone right next to you comes through at full volume; someone across the room fades to nothing. Walk up to a group and you can hear them, step away and you can have a private word. It works the way sound does in a real room.
What is spatial audio?
Spatial audio is sound that changes with distance and direction. In flat.social, a voice is loudest when you stand close to that person, gets quieter as you move away, and is panned left or right to match where they are on your screen.
How distance changes the volume
Within about 7.5 metres you hear someone at full volume. Beyond that their voice drops steadily until it fades to silence at about 22.5 metres. Voices are also panned left and right to match where people are on your screen, which helps you tell them apart in a crowd.
That falloff is what lets a dozen conversations share one room without everyone talking over each other. In a very crowded spot, flat.social plays the 12 nearest people who are talking, so the farthest voices drop out first. Cameras work the same way: you see the video of people near you.
How to use it: join, mingle, step away
Picture a networking event. You spot two people chatting near a plant. Walk over and their voices rise as you arrive, so you slip into the conversation naturally. When you want a quiet one-on-one, walk to an open corner together and the room noise drops away.
- To join a chat: walk up until you can hear the group clearly.
- To leave one: walk away and the voices fade.
- For privacy: step into a room or pod with walls. See Audio isolated rooms.
Places where the rules change
- Isolated rooms and pods: inside, you only hear and see the people in there, no matter how close others stand outside.
- Stages: someone standing on an auditorium stage is heard by everyone in the hall at full volume, like a PA system. See Host a talk on a stage.
- Megaphone: walk up to a megaphone and press Enter to yell; your voice carries ten times as far, though it still doesn't reach into isolated rooms.
- Game rooms: in football, maze race, arena shooter, territory, and surf rooms, everyone hears everyone at full volume.
- Conference rooms: one shared call with no distance at all.
- iPhone and iPad: because of a Safari limitation, voices aren't panned or faded by distance; you hear people in range at full volume.
Someone too loud or distracting? Click their avatar and choose Mute for me. Only you stop hearing them. Can't hear someone standing next to you? See Spatial audio issues.