Vancouver startup Emmerse has launched a mobile app that allows people to visit various locations around the world… through sound.
The pandemic has caused a rise in anxiety, with over 37% of North Americans reporting being affected by it. The app aims to give people a mini escape – a way to distract them from anxious thoughts and feel like they’re physically elsewhere.
The Emmerse app uses a few scientific approaches to audio-based anxiety reduction. Recordings on the app are made with binaural sound, which creates a profound and hyper-realistic virtual experience, and provides the best possible simulated environment. Studies have shown that soundscapes from nature, immersive binaural recordings, as well as the inclusion binaural beats can have positive effects on anxiety reduction.
“We wanted to create a different kind of app – one that’s grounded in science as opposed to lifestyle. Using a combination of techniques that we know work packs a powerful punch,” says Mia Thomsett, Emmerse co-founder.
In the app, you can select from evocative images with titles such as, “An Ethiopian countryside, Nightlife in Seoul, or A night in Portugal.” When played, listeners can sit back and feel enveloped by immersive sound and experience a whole other world.
Emmerse uses a different approach than most wellness apps. Instead of using spoken or guided audio, it uses 3D field recordings that transport listeners to different environments in order to calm the mind. It can help redirect stressful and repetitive thoughts that they might be ruminating on or that are keeping them up at night.
Emmerse co-founder Eric Mosher says, “Every place has its own unique sound. Our mission is to capture audio from all around the world and allow people to experience something new, to picture themselves elsewhere, and to journey into sleep.”
The Emmerse app is available now in the Apple Store and will be available on Google Play next month.
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