Dolby Laboratories (DLB), based in San Francisco, is a recognized innovator in audio entertainment. The company was founded in London, England by Ray Dolby in 1965 after Dolby received his Ph.D. in physics from Cambridge University. Though Dolby Laboratories was a U.S. corporation at the time of its inception (Dolby started his career in high school as a part-time employee for Ampex Corporation in Redwood City, California), the company moved its headquarters to San Francisco in 1976.

Dolby, at the Austin Game Developer’s Conference, recently announced the availability of software development kits for Dolby® Axon, a voice communication platform designed to deliver a 3-D voice experience in online games and virtual worlds that is clearer and more realistic.

Axon includes such features as 3-D voice complete with surround panning and distance attenuation; an occlusion engine that dynamically responds to game geometry, enabling gamers to experience voice communication that matches the game environment; and voice fonts that allow gamers to take on the voice attributes of game characters. Dolby Axon supports thousands of users per server, and scales seamlessly across multiple servers to support massively multiplayer games and large virtual worlds.

The company also announced the reduction in cost of its reusable 3D glasses. Dolby exhibitors can purchase new 3D glasses at a list price of US $27.50, reduced from $39.00, making them even more cost-effective. Dolby’s 3D glasses are high-performance, environmentally friendly passive glasses that require no batteries or charging. Due to their reusability, the per-ticket cost of the glasses is expected to be well below the cost of disposable 3D glasses.

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