Ears are alive with the sound of music

The market for immersive music listening is turning truly personal, with audio device hardware-makers turning to spatial sound experience to push sales. The entertainment industry now resides, to a large extent, on the cloud, with media platforms and gaming companies streaming content to personal devices like smartphones. Audio hardware such as headphones and speakers are much smarter now in computing power to render high-fidelity versions of music. The switch from family to individuals as the consuming unit is driving sales of audio hardware everywhere. India is no exception. The ubiquitous need to consume music and entertainment is also spreading demand.

Premiumisation is gaining as user experience is a key component of engagement metrics digital content-creators pursue. Technologies like spatial audio available exclusively in cinemas a few decades ago are being miniaturised to be replicated in handheld devices. This trend will strengthen as humans consume more content through augmented reality (AR). The audiophile experience needs to be available on a mass scale, and existing sound gear manufacturers have made a successful transition. Sony exemplifies this through its journey from making analogue devices to becoming an online entertainment creator, which, in turn, is driving sales of its digital audiovisual hardware. Other brands like Dolby have made the switch by mating their mechanical mastery of rendering sound with advanced computing needed to reproduce it faithfully. Tech companies such as Apple and Microsoft have also weighed in with their demand to deliver software through matching hardware.

The market for controlled sound has a mixed impact on sustainability if generated and consumed in minuscule amounts by individuals. There are recycling concerns and positive effects on ambient noise. Improvements in sound clarity make listening to music more pleasurable. The world is better off hearing the universal language better. And for a noisy country like India, noise-cancellation technology can even enthral a niche market.