Dolby hones in-car audio experience, sees potential

Imagine listening to the sounds of a concert in the comfort of your car. This is what Dolby wants to bring to consumers with its latest audio technology.

Launched in 2012 by Dolby Laboratories, Atmos creates an immersive, three-dimensional listening experience with sounds emanating overhead, below or behind a listener. It was first created for movies and now has been extended to music streaming, cars and live music venues.

The San Francisco-based company showcased its latest innovation — Dolby Atmos for cars — at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Though it is new to consumers, the company has been exploring its application to music for a few years.

"What we realized is this same technology might be interesting to musicians. So we started to talk to musicians and record producers, and they had many ideas of where they wanted to take sound," John Couling, senior vice-president of entertainment at Dolby, told China Daily.

The company has partnered with music creators, including those in China, to develop the Dolby Atmos technology. The result was "perfect "for music, Couling said.

"We've been able to have consumers enjoy that over the last two years since we launched services from Amazon, Apple Music, QQ Music and NetEase Music in China," he said.

The company has recently focused on in-car listening experience as automobiles are one of the main places to listen to music, Couling said.

"We know that people enjoy listening to music in their cars. It might be the one time of the day when it's just you — no one else distracting you — and you get to enjoy your time," Couling said. "Or it might be when you're taking your children to school, and you will sing songs together in the car. It's a very special occasion, and music in the car is something that we see as very important."

The trend is growing, especially as more cars become electric, and people will spend more time in their cars for entertainment while the cars are being charged.

Dolby has partnered with automakers, including Mercedes, Lucid Motors and Chinese auto brands Nio and Li Auto, to integrate Dolby Atmos into some of their models.

Largest market

China is the largest automobile market and an electric-vehicle leader, accounting for more than half of all EVs sold globally last year.

"I think there is a lot of opportunity in automotive. There's a lot more we could do to bring the experience to a wider range of people in China. That's going to be a focus for us," Couling said.

He said the Chinese market is already embracing the technology. Atmos-enabled content is available on the Tencent, iQIYI and Bilibili streaming platforms.

Dolby is also partnering with the Chinese creative community, including musicians, filmmakers and TV producers, to work on content with Dolby Atmos.

"I think the Chinese consumers really care about immersive entertainment experiences. We see some of the companies are really at the cutting edge of innovation of bringing new experiences. We have really good partnerships in China, and some of our partners there are the first to adopt our technologies," Couling said.