The above video, in my opinion, represents a rather traditional was of designing the sound, although we can see it slowly lurking into the future.

Virtual reality is shifting the paradigm of storytelling and can use sound as its director, the guide for the participant that shows the possible directions and influences their behaviour. Sound is seen as a main factor in leading the participant (often the protagonist) through a world that, otherwise, may be confusing.

Sound in VR is playing a crucial role in expanding the level of immersion as it can help to mimic the real experience (paradoxically) and with the plugins and technologies that are in use now placing the sound in 360 degrees space, directing the participant’s attention and therefore blending the real and the virtual.

The question that comes to my mind in all that striving for the total immersive experience is, can this endeavour contribute to the collective loss of imagination? In the (virtual) world, where everything is directed by the use of the newest technologies and the participant, sometimes called the protagonist, has an illusory impression of being in control but, actually, is under control? From emotions to directions of our journey, we are being led and shown, at the same time we have no choice over what we really see, even tho we may think that it’s us that lead this journey.

As long as the immersive experience can be beautiful and maybe even life-changing for some, I feel like it can contain a lot of negative ways in which propaganda of any kind can be spread, any subliminal messages can get encoded in one’s mind.

For the creators of those new worlds, ways of interacting and more specifically, shifters of the role of sound in storytelling this is a very exciting moment in time, but what about the audience? If we are being led on every level, from the direction we go to influencing our emotional bias, like in movies or games but with an increased (on steroids) level of imposed interpretation, can we then truly develop our own, personal ways of feeling and experiencing? It must be a different kind of imagination for sure and the processes that are happening in people’s brains while participating in VR experience are unknown to me. I know this is all very new and extremely exciting to the art and tech world, but I can not ignore the gut feeling I have and the possible dangers that the development of virtual reality may have on our old, real world.