In a bid to bolster its efforts in VR, Facebook has acquired acquired a small startup called Two Big Ears, which specializes in audio technology. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
As a result of the acquisition, Facebook will incorporate Two Big Ears technology into its own VR projects. Based in Scotland, the company previously had two immersive audio products based on solutions for both cinematic VR and gaming. Two Big Ears says that it “will continue to be platform and device agnostic,” not locked into the Rift or Gear VR.
In addition to the acquisition, Facebook has also introduced Facebook 360 Spatial Workstation which is a software suite for designing spatial audio for 360 video and cinematic VR. It includes plugins for popular audio workstations, a time synchronised 360 video player and utilities to help design and publish spatial audio in a variety of formats. Last month, Facebook announced Surround 360” 3D virtual reality camera that captures 360-degree video in 8K.