Audio & Sound

Sony received 9 patents this month, with a strong emphasis on making gaming audio more accessible and flexible. Four of the applications address hearing loss through different technical approaches: one uses AI to adapt all game audio based on individual audiograms while preserving the original sound design's integrity, another applies frequency-specific gain that changes depending on whether a sound is quiet or loud, a third uses pre-stored filter combinations to efficiently boost specific frequencies during gameplay, and a fourth weighs audio modifications based on spatial position and sound type. The remaining 5 patents center on wireless speaker systems that let players game without headsets. One application describes speakers that can receive audio from 2 wireless sources simultaneously (like a console and phone) while using echo cancellation to isolate voice chat, another adds beamforming microphones to that setup for better voice pickup, and a third layers in multiple stages of equalization control. Sony also filed a patent for speakers that track a player's position in a room and adjust their output to maintain optimal stereo sound as the person moves, plus a system that lets users position non-game audio sources like music and chat in specific locations within a 3D soundscape to prevent them from interfering with gameplay.

Microsoft received 1 patent for acoustic simulation in virtual environments. The application extends precomputed wave-based sound propagation to handle doors, windows, and other openings that can open or close during gameplay, solving a limitation where such techniques previously only worked when every surface stayed fixed in place.