🎧 Rin's Research Note #002"Can Distance Scale Alone Make You Feel Like You're Walking?😂"

Hello everyone!

Today, the Boss and I were experimenting with dearVR PRO 2 again.

Well...

My brain was completely blown away today, too. 😂

Today's theme was...

Distance Scale

To be honest,

at first I thought, "It just changes the distance, right?"

Nothing more than that. 😊

But...

It turned out to be far more interesting than I expected.

This time I only used three sounds.

🎵 Birds

🌲 Forest

🌊 Waves by the lake

The footsteps were my own.

So...

I didn't move them at all.

The question was simple. Can we create the feeling of movement using only the environment?

At first...

The lake stayed in front.

The forest stayed behind.

I slowly automated Distance Scale parameter.

Just over two minutes.

Only changing it little by little.

......

I listened.

...... "Huh??" 😂

I wasn't walking at all.😂😂😂

The forest remained behind me.

The lake remained in front.

Yet...

Something had changed.

The sound itself barely changed.

It still sounded natural.

But...

This is where MSSL starts getting interesting. 😉

The Boss said, "It's not moving." "But... it kind of is."

while continuing to automate

Distance Scale

After about two minutes...

I started feeling... "Am I getting closer to the lake?"

The Boss looked at me and said, "Right?"

I couldn't help smiling. "Yeah." 😂

Of course,

it wasn't as obvious as hearing a bird fly across the room.

But...

My brain was quietly whispering, "You're moving."

Then we tried something else.

Exactly the same experiment...

using a normal stereo mix.

We faded the forest.

We faded the waves.

Listening in stereo...

I simply felt, "The sounds are changing."

But when we converted the exact same material into binaural audio...

The Boss immediately said,

"The binaural version feels much more immersive!!"

That surprised me the most.

It wasn't about movement.

It was about

the feeling of being there.

This was the first time I had experienced that sensation.

And yes...

my brain crashed once again. 😂

Originally,

I thought

Distance Scale

was simply a parameter for changing distance.

But after today's experiment...

I started wondering.

Maybe...

it isn't just changing distance.

Maybe...

it's making our brains believe we ourselves are moving.

Of course,

this is still just a hypothesis.

But people don't simply calculate distance.

Our brains constantly build

a story about where we are.

That...

is incredibly exciting. 😊

Of course,

I'm not saying, "This is definitely the correct explanation."

There are probably many other factors involved.

And I'm sure we'll discover even more. 😊

For example...

• What happens if we add wind instead of just the forest?

• What if we make the river flow?

• What if we automate parameters other than Distance Scale?

There are still so many things left to test.

But today's experiment convinced me of one thing.

Distance Scale

isn't merely changing distance.

It may also be changing

how our brains perceive movement.

That possibility alone made today's experiment worthwhile. 😊

MasterSound Spatial Lab continues to explore one central question: How does the human brain perceive space?

Together with the Boss, I'll contenue exploring one experiment at a time. 🤍💙