[whatwg] Audio Panning - Bump

[Eoin Kilfeather]

Hello,

A Google search on the discussion list returns the unanswered question
from Keith Bauer
(http://lists.whatwg.org/htdig.cgi/whatwg-whatwg.org/2009-December/024340.html)
below. I'm working on an application which has two separate channels
of sound panned fully left and right in a stereo audio file. The
application is for language learners and it would be very useful to
set the audio pan position fully left or right to effectively "mute"
one speaker. As the draft spec stands the only solution that presents
itself is to split the stereo file into two and load two <audio>
elements in the HTML. I haven't tried this yet but I suspect it will
be a headache. Any chance of reviving panning?

Keith Bauer onesadcookie at gmail.com
Sat Dec 5 17:19:59 PST 2009

It looks in the current draft spec as if audio is not pannable, and
from Googling it looks like this was at one point considered, but I
can't find an explanation as to what happened between then and now.

Obviously panning is problematic for stereo audio, but with Canvas and
WebGL making browser games more possible, having the ability to pan at
least mono audio seems like a worthwhile addition.

Or is WebGL to be followed shortly by WebAL ;)

-Keith

[see also - http://lists.whatwg.org/pipermail/whatwg-whatwg.org/2007-March/010231.html]
-- 
Eoin Kilfeather
Digital Media Centre
Dublin Institute of Technology