Enables a realistic 3D voice experience that matches the game environment

Delivers a clear signal, free of unwanted noise, echo, and clipping

Expands creative game-play options for developers

Scales seamlessly across servers to support large virtual worlds

Dolby® Axon represents the future of voice communication for online games and virtual worlds. Crafted from the ground up specifically for game developers, Dolby Axon enables a realistic 3D voice experience that matches the game environment and greatly expands game-play possibilities.

A host of innovative features makes Dolby Axon unique and flexible, including 3D voice capabilities. Distance attenuation makes voices become louder as players approach one another within the game, or softer as the distance between players increases. Surround panning helps players locate competitors spatially within the game environment.

Dolby Axon also features an occlusion engine that further enhances the realism of voice communication. Because the Dolby Axon server dynamically responds to game geometry, players are able to hear around corners, for example, but not through walls. Likewise, the voice of a player who steps behind a solid barrier becomes harder to hear, just as it would in real life.

Voice fonts are another Dolby Axon feature. These allow players to alter their voices to better match their in-game personas. Someone with a naturally high voice, for example, can adopt the deep, menacing voice of a mercenary.

With or without the use of voice fonts, Dolby Axon’s innovative voice processing technologies combine to deliver a clear voice experience free of unwanted noise, echo, clipping, and leveling problems. And its flexible API presents new game-play options for developers, allowing them to introduce spy microphones and other specialized voice items into their games.

Why Dolby

As online games become more sophisticated and popular, the voice experience of these virtual worlds remains primitive. In-game communication is subject to unwanted noise, clipping, and other audio problems, and voices bear no spatial relationship to the game environment.

Dolby Axon raises the voice component of online gaming to a new level through a number of innovative features:

Realistic 3D voice communication complete with surround panning and distance attenuation

Advanced occlusion engine that maps voices to the game environment

Enabled voice fonts for improved role-playing

Proprietary audio technologies to deliver a clear voice experience

Flexible API for creative integration and game-play options

In addition, Dolby Axon is a model of scalability and efficiency. Advanced server mixing and networking technology, in combination with a proprietary Dolby codec, make it possible for Dolby Axon to support thousands of users per server and scale seamlessly across servers to support extremely large virtual worlds. Even better, Dolby Axon achieves these results at very low bandwidths—as low as 16 kbps per player for complex surround scenes.

Dolby Axon also offers game operators server and abuse monitoring tools to make operating voice servers easy, and its flexible hosting options mean that operators are free to select the setup that works best for their needs.