Spatial Audio

Audio technology that creates the perception of sound coming from specific locations in three-dimensional space, using techniques such as binaural recording, head-related transfer functions, and multi-channel speaker arrays. In accessibility research, spatial audio has been used to enhance audio descriptions by conveying spatial relationships that are difficult to describe verbally—for example, indicating that a character is speaking from the left while a door opens on the right. Systems like OmniScribe use spatial audio to adapt descriptions dynamically in 360-degree video contexts. For audio-described comics and webtoons, spatial audio could potentially convey panel layouts and character positions, though current implementations primarily use stereo rather than full spatial audio.