Clubhouse gains its own flavor of spatial audio to make it easier to tell who is speaking

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Clubhouse app
Clubhouse app (Image credit: Bryan M. Wolfe / iMore)

What you need to know

  • A new Clubhouse update has added support for spatial audio.
  • It'll now be easier than ever to tell when someone new is talking.

Popular voice chat app Clubhouse has gained support for spatial audio, making it easier than ever to tell when a new person is speaking on a call.

Announced via Twitter, the feature is now rolling out on iOS while those who use Android will have to wait a little while. It shouldn't be too long though, with Clubhouse saying the dark side will get its own spatial audio "soon."

The tweet also comes with a demonstration of how spatial audio will work. Spatial audio should mean that you'll more easily be able to tell when a different speaker pipes up. It's an interesting use for the technology, although don't expect any kind of head tracking here — this isn't Apple's implementation of the same feature.

Apple made spatial audio popular with its own implementation, but all it really means is that audio will sound like it's in 3D space — something that is obviously useful in apps like Clubhouse. Apple's Dolby Atmos functionality sounds amazing in the right hands, and its own AirPods Pro and AirPods Max really help there.

Don't yet have any of your own? Check out our list of the best AirPods Pro deals and treat yourself!

Oliver Haslam
Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.