Wwise Help

At a very basic level, your sound and music objects can use 3D spatialization or not.

The main difference is the way in which the source channels are mapped to the output speakers. Without spatialization, the source channels are linked together, whereas with 3D spatialization each input channel can be output to any speaker in a surround environment. The positioning method can be changed at runtime through an RTPC on the Positioning Type.

For non-diegetic sound and music objects, you can use a panner to balance the volume of each channel so the sound or music object can be heard through different speakers.

For diegetic objects, using 3D spatialization provides calculations using the X-Y-Z coordinate position and, optionally, the X-Y-Z coordinates for the top and front orientation vectors of the sound emitter in game. However, the spatialization information for either the listener or the emitter can be predefined in Wwise using specific animation paths.

Whether using 3D spatialization or not, Wwise also offers attenuation, which simulates the natural weakening of an audio signal as the sound emitter moves and/or turns away from the listener.

	Note
	The positioning information is used to determine the spatialization within the surround environment; but, it is also used to calculate the distance for attenuation.