[Vive mic input without noise suppression]

Hello —

 

Pardon the slow reply.  No, our software does not incorporate any voice chat function and all record/replay functions are carefully managed.  Our team is proficient in sound design and DSP, and we can deal with any acoustic echo or feedback-loop issues that arise.

[Mic noise suppression breaks voice-based controls]

In case a driver developer should happen to see this thread, here is the relevant Microsoft documentation:

 

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/audio/audio-signal-processing-modes

 

Raw mode is listed right at the top of the page.

[Mic noise suppression breaks voice-based controls]

Hello —

 

(I started an earlier thread in the Audio SDK forum, but this issue is unrelated to spatial audio so I'm posting in general support.)

 

We're making SoundSelf, an accessible voice-driven experience for Vive.  The player interacts with the game by making sustained tonal sounds with their voice.  However, Vive's noise suppression algorithm identifies any sustained sound (>.75s) as background noise, and cuts it (-40-60dB) from the signal.  In our case, this means Vive is deleting player input — making our experience unplayable.

 

Like most voice-recognition technologies, our technology works best with unprocessed audio.  In order to support voice-recognition apps better, Windows 10 includes a "raw mode" in its WASAPI audio API.  Oculus implements raw mode in its mic audio driver, allowing us to easily circumvent its noise suppression.  Vive, however, does not — and I have been unable to find any API call or user preference to do so.

 

This is truly a show-stopping issue for us and we may not be able to ship on Vive if it can't be addressed.  It's like playing a game where all the buttons and joysticks automatically reset to zero every split-second.

[Vive mic input without noise suppression]

Our product is designed to work with all current OpenVR headsets including Vive and Vive Pro.  The driver for the Vive microphone should implement WASAPI raw mode, or some other method allowing applications to bypass its noise suppression.

[Vive mic input without noise suppression]

Hello —

 

We're making SoundSelf, an accessible voice-driven experience for Vive.  The player interacts with the game by making sustained sounds with their voice.  However, Vive's noise suppression algorithm identifies any sustained sound longer than 3/4 of a second as background noise, and attenuates it by 40-60 dB.  Unfortunately, this makes our game unplayable on the Vive platform — the player's input is being deleted.

 

Like other voice-perception technologies, our technology works best with unprocessed audio.  Windows 10 includes a "raw" flag in its audio API for voice recognition applications.  Oculus implements WASAPI raw mode in its mic audio driver, allowing us to easily circumvent noise suppression there.  Vive, however, does not — and I have been unable to find any API call or user-facing option to do so.

 

While I'm very excited to make a product for Vive, our team has made the decision to suspend all development for the platform until this issue can be resolved.