Meta: Senior Interaction Sound Designer leading cross-functional partnerships on software and hardware audio experiences for Quest VR

Interaction Sound Design is a central group at Meta, functioning like an in-house shop that partners with product groups from all sides of the company. We gathered twice weekly for design critiques to collectively sharpen our assets, analyze larger initiatives where audio would be integral, and cheer each other on. The caliber of work that emerged was astonishing. To say I learned a lot doesn’t come close to doing it justice, and I'm so excited to bring my heightened sharpness to the processes and teams I'll join in the future.

I shipped sounds for VR software and hardware: system level features in Quest and Quest Pro, spatial audio to support personal safety features in Horizon, and I was leading the aesthetic direction and sonic prototyping work for our group on the future of hands-first interactions in VR.


Quest charging sounds

With the Charging sound for Quest Pro and it’s charging dock, we needed to communicate to the user in off-head scenarios that the connection with the wireless charging dock was successful. We needed to boost user confidence in successful charging since we’d received feedback that the headset connection with the dock interaction wasn’t always clear. The language of the sound thus needed to communicate connection and charging, needed to take advantage of spatial animation that showed off the speakers, and needed to convey through sonic palette and expression the premium identity of Quest hardware. We were increasingly interested to use hardware and UI system sounds to differentiate between Meta software products and the more expensive line of Meta hardware offerings, particularly now that the VR lineup included a pro and consumer line.

The Quest Pro charging sound needed to also be harmonious with the Quest controller charging sound, which emanates from the sophisticated haptic motors that can replicate musical frequencies. I designed the headset sound to be musically harmonious with the existing controller sound, and in our internal UXR study the headset chime interaction tested so overwhelmingly positively that we shipped it immediately to users and then set about to designing a similar yet different sound for the Quest 2. The differentiation here had to do with the need to define the Pro and Consumer level products from one another, as well as tie in with the current palette of Quest VR system sounds with which 12 million Quest 2 owners were already familiar. Here you can hear the slightly more playful palette for Quest 2 vs the slightly more full frequency sheen of the Quest Pro asset.

VR Alarms and Timers app

There’s a desire from the Assistant product team to ship a suite of Alarm/Timer sounds that aligns more with customer expectations around the set of sounds you’d get with a new phone. Previously, there was only one timer sound in Quest. Moreover, we wanted to offer sounds that would offer personalization but also benefit different use cases, some with a higher signal level that would cut through loud immersive app experiences, vs low signal and soft edged sounds that might appeal to users who don’t often play loud immersive games and would perhaps prefer a calmer alarm experience.

The video here demonstrates my 4 assets we shipped following a couple rounds of revisions with our cross-functional partners.