Embodied Sound: Experience the Future of Sound

“EDGE Sound Research is pioneering the future of sound through their creation of the Embodied Sound platform. With its ability to transcend traditional loudspeakers, Embodied Sound presents a fully immersive experience that can be applied in nearly any environment through practically any surface material. It is truly a sensory shift for the entire industry.” – Mike Clem, Sweetwater CEO, on Embodied Sound

Stroll through any downtown area with a live music scene on a weekend night, and your ears/brain will immediately tell you as you pass each venue whether the music emanating from its open door is a live band or a DJ playing tracks. We instinctively know before we see the entertainers because we experience live performance differently. The timing is unique, the immediacy is evident, and the visceral aspect is right there, enveloping us. In a small club, you hear the drums from the drums, not just through the confines of loudspeakers. The same holds true at a sporting event. When you are courtside at a basketball game, the squeak of the shoes, the contact of the ball on the polished wood floor, even the sound of the ref’s whistle is different than the experience of watching the same game on TV. The difference is not about volume; it is about immersion and sonic character. Live is clearly different, and truly, live is better. What if you could experience sound in any environment, in any setting, with that same immediacy and impact? With Embodied Sound from EDGE Sound Research (ESR), now you can.

In our daily lives, sound doesn’t come from two speaker cabinets mounted six feet in front of us; it comes from anywhere and everywhere. The sound of traffic cannot be put in a box and mounted on a speaker stand. You sense it inside and outside your body. ESR has been on a yearslong quest to uncover, understand, and re-create that experience in any setting, whether it be at home, inside a suite at a sports stadium, or at a staged play or concert.

Far from a simple “sound shaker” device, Embodied Sound represents a revolutionary, whole-body sensory system incorporating both acoustic and tactile-vibrational systems that are capable of full-range frequency response and immediate body interaction. While common transducer-based shakers are effective in the extreme low-end range, they are useless anywhere above 250Hz. ESR has spent years developing what has evolved into the Resonx device, a full-range transducer capable of turning a table, a wall, a window, or almost any other object into an immersive experience. A great tactile/haptic hardware device is one thing, but pairing it with custom intelligent software designed to anticipate and manage metadata in real time is quite another; and, together, this hardware and software combination comprises the complete Embodied Sound ecosystem.

By merging their knowledge of transducers and their talent for writing code, ESR has built an entirely new way of experiencing sound. In fact, it is so unique that their product is patented. As a consequence, they have shifted immersive sound from the old channel-based paradigm, such as 7.1, even beyond the object-based model of current technologies to pixel-based scenarios, in which, for instance, the point guard is assigned as a pixel within a sound map of the basketball court. As the guard moves closer to your location, the sound shifts from normal loudspeaker structure to tactile/haptic structure, meaning the player is sensed as if right next to you. The vocal range shifts, the balance between player voice and crowd is altered, and the positioning moves as they move. The hardware and software work together in unison to deliver a truly multidimensional, “you are there” experience. Achieving that experience requires some serious genius in terms of software coding but nothing out of the norm in terms of hardware besides the Resonx device. The dedicated Embodied Sound app running on a computer controls the system while an audio interface mates the system to the source, and a high-quality multichannel power amplifier delivers the necessary levels to the Resonx devices.

It is tempting to compare Embodied Sound to the established norm of sound through traditional mounted loudspeaker cabinets, but, like comparing apples to oranges, it misses the point. Traditional speakers push air toward the listener, and all the measurement devices and techniques in use today are oriented toward that model. Embodied Sound, on the other hand, does not fall under the normal measurement parameters associated with point-source or line-array loudspeaker models since it is, instead, an inside-out design. Embodied Sound must be experienced firsthand to be truly understood, but experiencing it is like moving from the back row of a theater while watching a play to being on the stage with the actors as they perform. The difference is transformative.

Part of the magic of Embodied Sound is its ability to analyze and equalize the attached object’s material for the Resonx device through an array configurator. Thanks to ESR’s extensive studies, the characteristics of most materials reside in the software as programmed macros dedicated to things such as a wooden table, an interior wall made of drywall, a metal chair, and even a leather sofa. Each material requires settings specifically designed to compensate and render a consistent experience regardless of material. In addition, the Virtual Sound Engine (VSE) combines visual data with audio information to track and capture sound objects based on their sensed position. Embodied Sound is brand agnostic, that is, it doesn’t require any specific brand or model of processor or loudspeaker to work properly.

Embodied Sound has a bold future in numerous settings including sporting venues, themed entertainment, home theater, house of worship, and — thanks to its low ambient generated level — restaurants and small businesses. Currently, there are numerous major-league sport venues undergoing transformation through the addition of Embodied Sound systems in suites and boxes. Thanks to ESR, Resonx devices can be affixed to the corner of the window and restore the sonic immediacy of the game as the glass becomes a broadband speaker. Meanwhile, in the standard seating area, the addition of a Resonx device to the back of a seat brings the crack of the bat, the slam of the catcher’s mitt, and the thrill of a stolen base to life as the impact is felt, not just heard.

For houses of worship, Embodied Sound can not only improve the experience for the whole congregation but also be applied as a tremendous advancement over regular Assisted Listening Systems (ALS) for hard-of-hearing congregants. Instead of each user wearing a hearing device, one Resonx device is attached under the pew and serves everyone seated on that pew with excellent sound quality, even for those with dramatic hearing loss, thanks to the transference via bone conductivity.

For home theater applications, in place of large floor-standing speakers supplemented with kickers (a low-frequency driver that is mounted under each seat), a Resonx device at each location brings better sound to the user with far less clutter and complication. For restaurants, since Embodied Sound does not broadcast sound through the air, each booth can have a Resonx device with individual control, allowing those who want to experience the live band as foreground music to do so while others may relegate it to the background without disrupting the server, who can still hear orders without issue since the sound is in the seats, not in the air.

EDGE Sound Research began as a university project by company founder Dr. Ethan Castro to rectify the problems he experienced as a hard-of-hearing person. His desire to experience sound fully despite his hearing loss formed the basis for Embodied Sound. From his research grew a company with a mission to demonstrably improve sound reinforcement for everyone in any setting. Thanks to continuing support from his small team of engineers, designers, and business mavens, Ethan and Val Salomaki, company CEO, have created a revolution in live sound for game developers, live venues, and music producers. Now with the cooperation of Sweetwater Sound, who is stepping in to further the reach of Embodied Sound into every arena, studio, house of worship, restaurant, and venue, the future of sound is here; and it is Embodied Sound.

To learn more about how you can experience Embodied Sound in person, contact an ESR-certified Sweetwater Sales Engineer at (800) 222-4700, ext. 5160.
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