From Scotland to Silicon Valley: Facebook 360 Snaps Up VR Start-Up

Okay, so the world is waking up to wonders of virtual reality (VR) but what about audio virtual reality (AVR)? Well Facebook's on board; the Silicon Valley social media giant has snapped up Scottish tech start-up firm Two Big Ears.

Virtual reality is computer technology that digitally replicates an environment or situation, fantasy or authentic and simulates an artificial sensory experience to create an immersive internet experience.

Facebook is looking to improve its virtual reality audio experiences, which is why the tech giant has turned to Two Big Ears for its next AVR project.

We’re excited to announce that we’re joining Facebook and making many of our products free! https://t.co/54Jgn8WsT7 pic.twitter.com/LjsTvZJKMi

— Two Big Ears (@TwoBig_Ears) May 23, 2016

​Founded in 2013 by two Edinburgh graduates, Two Big Ears' Spatial Workstation has become the Facebook 360 Spatial Workstation.

"Two Big Ears has revolutionized how humans hear sound with software,"  spokesperson for Facebook told Sputnik.

Abesh Thakur who co-founded the company with Varun Nair told Scottish newspaper The Herald that the deal wasn't out of the blue and explained how their software "can digitally create how humans hear.

"If I blindfolded you and spoke to you from any point in space, you'd be able to point in space, you'd be able to point out where I might be standing or which room I was in.

"These are natural things the human brain can do. What we do is create all that using software and algorithms," Thakur explained.

"It hasn't happened out of the blue in the sense that our technology has been quite popular and has been used on Oculus and other devices," Thakur said.

On its Spatial Workstation website, Two Big Ears gave a big thank you to its customers, partners, board members, University of Edinburgh, Scottish Enterprise "and everybody who has been with us on this amazing journey."

Facebook 360 Spatial Workstation states, "3Dception for Games will no longer be a separate product but we will be working with the Oculus team to combine our expertise and create best in class VR audio."

"We're excited to welcome them to the Facebook team and give even more people access to their incredible work through our platform," a spokesperson for Facebook told Sputnik.

According to a Goldman Sachs report, the virtual and augmented reality market could reach between US$80 and US$182 billion by 2025. The retail sector, so-called V-Commerce, engineering, military, real estate and healthcare are expected to make-up a strong proportion of the market — not just gaming.