Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

Headphones

Spatial Audio at 30,000 Feet? Panasonic and HEAR360 Are About To Make That Happen

Qatar Airlines will be the first to offer in-flight spatial audio, but will passengers flock to it?

Boy on Airplane wearing headphones

Panasonic Avionics Corporation (Panasonic Avionics), a leading supplier of in-flight entertainment and connectivity systems (IFEC), and HEAR360 Inc., experts in advanced audio solutions, have formed a partnership to bring Spatial Audio to airline passengers.

With Spatial Audio becoming more commonplace in entertainment including streaming of movies and music, this is the first time Spatial Audio is being included as part of an inflight entertainment (IFE) experience.

Panasonic sees Spatial Audio as an important next phase of Panasonic Avionics’ continued innovation efforts to offer state-of-the-art systems for all cabin experiences.

Implementation

In-flight entertainment (IFE) content delivered via the Panasonic Avionics Astrova platform, whether live or on-demand movies, music, live television, sporting events, and games, will be provided in real-time 3D Spatial Audio using HEAR360’s proprietary audio technology.

In-Flight Entertainment Screen at Seat

Spatial Audio will be available as a standard feature on planes that incorporate the Panasonic Avionics Astrova IFE solution, complementing entertainment systems that also include 4K UHD OLED screen displays

Tip: The 3D spatial audio experience can be delivered to listeners that are using any wired or Bluetooth wireless headphones or earbuds.

Benefits for Airlines

One benefit to the airlines that use this new option is that the HEAR360 spatial audio enhancement can be implemented without additional media purchase or end-user delivery costs, as no special media encoding or file types are required. Of course, that doesn’t prevent Airlines with inflight entertainment enhancements from raising fares. 

Benefits to Passengers

From Andy Masson, Vice President, Product Management of Panasonic Avionics: “Spatial Audio provides passengers with a comparable experience to a home theater system they would enjoy on the ground while enabling airlines to offer premium audio and remain efficient with their media spending…The launch of Spatial Audio represents the latest evolution in the industry-leading sound solutions Panasonic Avionics offers and follows our previous milestones including the introduction of HD Audio in 2015, and full cabin Bluetooth Audio in 2021.”

Airplane cabin with in-flight entertainment screens at every seat

From Matt Marrin, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of HEAR360: “We are thrilled to partner with Panasonic Avionics to give all passengers an unparalleled immersive and engaging inflight experience using our revolutionary audio technology. Being content and device agnostic not only means we democratize best-in-class audio for everyone to enjoy, it provides Panasonic Avionics and its airline customers with immediate scalability in a cost-effective manner.”

Tip: Qatar Airlines is the first carrier that uses the Panasonic Avionics Astrova IFE system.

It is expected that Panasonic will be showing the Panasonic Avionics Astrova IFE solution at the upcoming AIX (Aircraft Interior Expo) from June 6th to 8th, 2023 in Hamburg, Germany.

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Advertisement

New Products

Zeitgeist Germany Tree Collection IEMs

Earbuds & In-Ear Headphones

At $814, Zeitgeist Germany offers bespoke IEMs carved from 4 different types of wood -- Sequoia, Zebrano, Olive and Redheart.

TCL A1 Portable Lifestyle Projector TCL A1 Portable Lifestyle Projector

New Products

At $499, the TCL A1 is a 1080p portable lifestyle projector that lets you bring big screen entertainment wherever you go.

Bose 901 60th Anniversary Edition Speakers Lifestyle Front Bose 901 60th Anniversary Edition Speakers Lifestyle Front

Bookshelf Speakers

Without any public fanfare, Bose has recreated its legendary 901 Direct Reflecting Loudspeakers that we would like to see and hear in person.

Musical Fidelity M8x Vinyl Phono Stage Silver Front Angle Musical Fidelity M8x Vinyl Phono Stage Silver Front Angle

New Products

Musical Fidelity's new flagship M8x Vinyl Phono Stage is both fully discrete and fully balanced with improved gain stage and more.

Master & Dynamic ME05 Wired Earphones Master & Dynamic ME05 Wired Earphones

Earbuds & In-Ear Headphones

Are wired earphones coming back? The new $199 Master & Dynamic ME05 in-ear headphones refresh a 10-year old design with added support for hi-res...

McIntosh MSA5500 Integrated Streaming Amplifier (Front) McIntosh MSA5500 Integrated Streaming Amplifier (Front)

Digital Music Systems

At $8,000, the McIntosh MSA5500 streaming integrated amplifier isn't for everybody, but it's hard not to be impressed with its styling and audio technology.

You May Also Like

HDTV 4K & 8K TV

Panasonic is releasing two 65-inch OLED TVs along with four Mini LED TVs (55 - 85-inches) with Amazon's Fire TV built-in.

Headphones

Sony's immersive music format is being removed from TIDAL this month, leaving Amazon Music as the only major streaming platform to support the format.

News

The new Syng Cell Alpha is unlike any wireless speaker we've seen. Investors have taken the bait, but will consumers bite at $1800 per...

Earbuds & In-Ear Headphones

At $199 or $349, Denon's new noise cancelling wireless earbuds look nearly identical, but have some key differences.

Ask an Expert

Here's what you need to know about the immersive music format from Dolby.

A/V Receivers & Preamp/Processors

Watch the video to get the scoop on two exclusive immersive audio technologies from Sony; 360 Reality Audio and Spatial Sound Mapping.

HDTV 4K & 8K TV

North American videophiles are out of luck again when it comes to Panasonic's OLED, Mini-LED, and LED TVs for 2023. Japanese, European, and Middle...

Earbuds & In-Ear Headphones

Improved battery life, ANC performance, and much better call quality for $169.99. But are the new Beats Studio Buds+ that much better?

Advertisement

ecoustics is a hi-fi and music magazine offering product reviews, podcasts, news and advice for aspiring audiophiles, home theater enthusiasts and headphone hipsters. Read more

Copyright © 1999-2024 ecoustics | Disclaimer: We may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site.



SVS Bluesound PSB Speakers NAD Cambridge Audio Q Acoustics Denon Marantz Focal Naim Audio RSL Speakers