Adaptive Binaural Wind

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CyB-FQBsk4

I’ve created a real-time interactive wind blueprint for Unreal Engine 4 to simulate the sound of wind traveling over the player’s ears. The wind sounds are completely binaural and adaptive, depending on the source of the wind and the rotation of the player’s head.

Settings such as the direction of the wind source, the amount of variation in random wind shifts, frequency of gusts, and overall wind intensity are easily editable by the user.

Possible Uses:
Natural wind simulation
Air vents
Fans
Drafty hallways
Cave tunnels
Skydiving
Hang gliding
Countless more inventive uses

Wind in games has always been a great way to add atmosphere. Up until now, that wind was always disconnected from the player. With the enhancements of technology and VR, we have come a long way in immersing the player into virtual worlds visually, but audio has generally not changed in how it's utilized.

With this blueprint, I hope to add immersion in regards to how the player hears the environment by introducing the character's physical ears to first person games. Everyday we hear how our ears affect air as it passes over them, and we take that for granted. Recreating this phenomenon in games adds a whole new level to believability and immersion.