Technology giants are scrambling to build acoustic laboratories, and behind the "mystery"

Is Acoustics "Pseudoscience" or Real Science? What's Its Commercial Value?

Recently, Huawei's audio lab in Shanghai opened to the public for the first time. According to Liu Dongfang, head of audio at the Terminal BG, the lab is equipped with seven experimental areas including headset calling and spatial audio, aiming to apply audio technology to products like earphones by simulating various acoustic environments.

Features like quick acoustic setup, long-distance sound pickup, and dynamic noise reduction... Good audiovisual experiences rely on quality audio equipment. Reporters noted that besides Huawei, smartphone manufacturers like Xiaomi and vivo, and even tech companies like BAT that have ventured into hardware production are establishing their own acoustic labs.

In May this year, Genie Acoustic Lab announced a partnership with Boston Acoustics to co-develop new audio tuning products and explore intelligent acoustic solutions. Earlier, Alibaba DAMO Academy fully acquired Beijing First Sound and recruited experts including Fu Qiang, former researcher at the Institute of Acoustics, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Acoustic labs established by vivo and Xiaomi employ "golden ear" professionals who rely on human auditory discrimination and musical cognition for acoustic testing. Meanwhile, Tencent's Tianlai AI audio technology and Baidu's SMLTA model are both products of lab research.

The tech industry's rush to build acoustic labs stems from their business layouts in earphones and smart speakers, along with expectations for commercial value. The recently released "2021-2025 China Acoustic Components Market Feasibility Research Report" shows that thanks to developments in consumer electronics and smart speakers, the acoustic components market has grown significantly. China's acoustic components market is expected to maintain a 15.6% CAGR from 2021-2025, reaching ¥46 billion by 2025.

More fundamentally, acoustic research represents foundational technology for entering the metaverse race. Late last year, DingTalk established an Audio-Video Business Unit with its Hummingbird Audio Lab. Lab director Feng Jinwei revealed their R&D focuses on metaverse-enabled online meeting scenarios.

Industry insiders note acoustic research aims to bridge physical and virtual worlds through better sound. Zhao Bin, founder of Agora, believes VR/AR spatial audio, real-time interaction, and virtual meetings all belong to RTE (Real-Time Engagement) capabilities that will serve future metaverse applications.

According to Shen Juncong, audio tech lead at Lizhi Group, the metaverse's key feature is being a virtual world parallel to reality: "Achieving full immersion requires continuous advancement in spatial audio, sound separation, and real-time voice modulation technologies. Audio products are naturally aligned with the metaverse concept."