Nokia made what it claims is “the world’s first immersive voice and audio call” using cell phones, made possible by the new 3GPP Immersive Voice and Audio Services (IVAS) codec that lets consumers hear 3D spatial sound in real-time. The codec — which Nokia participated in crafting — is a major leap from today’s standard monophonic smartphone voice call experience and is part of the upcoming 5G Advanced standard. The innovation paves the way towards enhanced immersive spatial communications, extended reality and metaverse applications, says Nokia, explaining that it works across “any connected device,” including smartphones, tablets and PCs.

The first-of-its-kind call took place between Nokia President and CEO Pekka Lundmark and Stefan Lindström, ambassador of digitalization and new technologies for Finland, where Nokia is based. Engadget called the communication “a big deal,” as today’s cell phone tech offers “no possibility for spatial audio.”

IVAS leverages spatial audio’s ability to split audio into multiple channels “to make it sound like it’s coming from different directions,” Engadget explains, noting that “this technology has become pretty popular with streaming music, but video calls are certainly a unique use-case scenario.”

The IVAS codec lets users “hear voices as if they were physically present with the caller,” according to TechTimes, which says the immersive technology makes remote voice interactions “more lifelike and engaging.”

“This groundbreaking audio technology takes you to the caller’s environment creating a spatial and massively improved listening experience for voice and video calls, offering significant benefits for enterprise and industrial applications,” Lundmark said, calling it “the future of voice calls” in Nokia’s announcement.

Engadget notes that use of 3D audio for these applications will have to wait until deployment of 5G Advanced, which “will purportedly offer faster speeds, improved energy efficiency and more accurate cellular positioning.”

“5G Advanced will technically make spatial calls possible, but Reuters says it’ll be a few years before cellular networks start offering the service,” Engadget reports.

While Nokia anticipates licensing opportunities from IVAS, 5G Advanced will “likely take a few years to be available widely,” writes Reuters.

The IVAS codec was developed under the 3GPP standardization process by a consortium of 13 companies. Among them, “Nokia has been a frontrunner, contributing major parts of the technology and developing a smartphone-specific format for the IVAS standard,” per TechTimes.

Related:
Spatial Audio Over AirPlay Could Be a Game Changer for Dolby Atmos, Digital Trends, 6/11/24
Apple’s AirPods Are Being Upgraded with Powerful Accessibility Features, The Verge, 6/10/24
Apple HomePods Getting a Nice Social Upgrade, AirPlay Now Supports Dolby Atmos, TechRadar, 6/10/24
Spatial Audio Will Be Even More Immersive in Android 15, Android Authority, 6/3/24
Jabra’s Wireless Earbuds Can Stream Spatial Audio from Practically Any Source, What Hi-Fi?, 6/11/24