I’m facing a problem while trying to achieve spatial audio effects in my iOS 18 app. I have tried several approaches to get good 3D audio, but the effect never felt good enough or it didn’t work at all.
Also what mostly troubles me is I noticed that AirPods I have doesn’t recognize my app as one having spatial audio (in audio settings it shows "Spatial Audio Not Playing"). So i guess my app doesn't use spatial audio potential.
- First approach uses
AVAudioEnviromentNodewithAVAudioEngine. Chaining position of player as well as changing listener’s doesn’t seem to change anything in how audio plays.
Here's simple how i initialize AVAudioEngine
import Foundation
import AVFoundation
class AudioManager: ObservableObject {
// important class variables
var audioEngine: AVAudioEngine!
var environmentNode: AVAudioEnvironmentNode!
var playerNode: AVAudioPlayerNode!
var audioFile: AVAudioFile?
...
//Sound set up
func setupAudio() {
do {
let session = AVAudioSession.sharedInstance()
try session.setCategory(.playback, mode: .default, options: [])
try session.setActive(true)
} catch {
print("Failed to configure AVAudioSession: \(error.localizedDescription)")
}
audioEngine = AVAudioEngine()
environmentNode = AVAudioEnvironmentNode()
playerNode = AVAudioPlayerNode()
audioEngine.attach(environmentNode)
audioEngine.attach(playerNode)
audioEngine.connect(playerNode, to: environmentNode, format: nil)
audioEngine.connect(environmentNode, to: audioEngine.mainMixerNode, format: nil)
environmentNode.listenerPosition = AVAudio3DPoint(x: 0, y: 0, z: 0)
environmentNode.listenerAngularOrientation = AVAudio3DAngularOrientation(yaw: 0, pitch: 0, roll: 0)
environmentNode.distanceAttenuationParameters.referenceDistance = 1.0 environmentNode.distanceAttenuationParameters.maximumDistance = 100.0
environmentNode.distanceAttenuationParameters.rolloffFactor = 2.0
// example.mp3 is mono sound
guard let audioURL = Bundle.main.url(forResource: "example", withExtension: "mp3") else {
print("Audio file not found")
return
}
do {
audioFile = try AVAudioFile(forReading: audioURL)
} catch {
print("Failed to load audio file: \(error)")
}
}
...
//Playing sound
func playSpatialAudio(pan: Float ) {
guard let audioFile = audioFile else { return }
// left side
playerNode.position = AVAudio3DPoint(x: pan, y: 0, z: 0)
playerNode.scheduleFile(audioFile, at: nil, completionHandler: nil)
do {
try audioEngine.start()
playerNode.play()
} catch {
print("Failed to start audio engine: \(error)")
}
...
}
- Second more complex approach using
PHASEdid better. I’ve made an exemplary app that allows players to move audio player in 3D space. I have added reverb, and sliders changing audio position up to 10 meters each direction from listener but audio seems to only really change left to right (x axis) - again I think it might be trouble with the app not being recognized as spatial.
//Crucial class Variables:
class PHASEAudioController: ObservableObject{
private var soundSourcePosition: simd_float4x4 = matrix_identity_float4x4
private var audioAsset: PHASESoundAsset!
private let phaseEngine: PHASEEngine
private let params = PHASEMixerParameters()
private var soundSource: PHASESource
private var phaseListener: PHASEListener!
private var soundEventAsset: PHASESoundEventNodeAsset?
// Initialization of PHASE
init{
do {
let session = AVAudioSession.sharedInstance()
try session.setCategory(.playback, mode: .default, options: [])
try session.setActive(true)
} catch {
print("Failed to configure AVAudioSession: \(error.localizedDescription)")
}
// Init PHASE Engine
phaseEngine = PHASEEngine(updateMode: .automatic)
phaseEngine.defaultReverbPreset = .mediumHall
phaseEngine.outputSpatializationMode = .automatic //nothing helps
// Set listener position to (0,0,0) in World space
let origin: simd_float4x4 = matrix_identity_float4x4
phaseListener = PHASEListener(engine: phaseEngine)
phaseListener.transform = origin
phaseListener.automaticHeadTrackingFlags = .orientation
try! self.phaseEngine.rootObject.addChild(self.phaseListener)
do{
try self.phaseEngine.start();
}
catch {
print("Could not start PHASE engine")
}
audioAsset = loadAudioAsset()
// Create sound Source
// Sphere
soundSourcePosition.translate(z:3.0)
let sphere = MDLMesh.newEllipsoid(withRadii: vector_float3(0.1,0.1,0.1), radialSegments: 14, verticalSegments: 14, geometryType: MDLGeometryType.triangles, inwardNormals: false, hemisphere: false, allocator: nil)
let shape = PHASEShape(engine: phaseEngine, mesh: sphere)
soundSource = PHASESource(engine: phaseEngine, shapes: [shape])
soundSource.transform = soundSourcePosition
print(soundSourcePosition)
do {
try phaseEngine.rootObject.addChild(soundSource)
}
catch {
print ("Failed to add a child object to the scene.")
}
let simpleModel = PHASEGeometricSpreadingDistanceModelParameters()
simpleModel.rolloffFactor = rolloffFactor
soundPipeline.distanceModelParameters = simpleModel
let samplerNode = PHASESamplerNodeDefinition(
soundAssetIdentifier: audioAsset.identifier,
mixerDefinition: soundPipeline,
identifier: audioAsset.identifier + "_SamplerNode")
samplerNode.playbackMode = .looping
do {soundEventAsset = try
phaseEngine.assetRegistry.registerSoundEventAsset(
rootNode: samplerNode,
identifier: audioAsset.identifier + "_SoundEventAsset")
} catch {
print("Failed to register a sound event asset.")
soundEventAsset = nil
}
}
//Playing sound
func playSound(){
// Fire new sound event with currently set properties
guard let soundEventAsset else { return }
params.addSpatialMixerParameters(
identifier: soundPipeline.identifier,
source: soundSource,
listener: phaseListener)
let soundEvent = try! PHASESoundEvent(engine: phaseEngine,
assetIdentifier: soundEventAsset.identifier,
mixerParameters: params)
soundEvent.start(completion: nil)
}
...
}
Also worth mentioning might be that I only own personal team account
