BWF Partners with Creative to Add Holography to Badminton Live Streams

Badminton World Federation (BWF) has partnered with Creative Technology to enhance the fan experience of watching badminton matches by bringing the audience closer to the action through holographic audio.

Starting tomorrow at the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals in Bangkok, Thailand, live and delayed matches on BWF’s YouTube channel will be enhanced with SXFI LIVE. Making its debut as the latest iteration of the multiple award-winning Super X-Fi headphone holography, SXFI LIVE adds audio holography and recreates the soundstage of a premium multi-speaker system in a pair of normal headphones.

Processed in real time at the source of the live stream, fans will be able to enjoy the lifelike effects of Super X-Fi audio, regardless of the headphones they wear when watching the live streams on YouTube, and feel as though they are watching the matches live in the arena.

Bringing the Game Closer to the Fans

BWF Secretary General Thomas Lund said the progressive partnership was a positive step for badminton. “2020 was an unprecedented year in sport. The BWF has learned some valuable lessons about content curation in the absence of live events.

“As we begin 2021 with the possibility of some of our events hosted without live audiences, such as in Bangkok this week, we are delighted to partner with Creative to enhance the audio fan experience, even when virtual.

“We look forward to working with Creative and the clever SXFI LIVE technology going forward.”

Sim Wong Hoo, CEO of Creative, said: “We are thrilled to be partners with BWF in a first-of-its kind initiative. This is a win-win-win partnership – Creative brings its technology and products to a global sport and audience. BWF becomes the first sports body to incorporate ground breaking audio technology to its events. Over 700 million badminton fans can now enjoy lifelike badminton live streams through their headphones.

“By transforming the audio quality right from the source, we bring the best seat in the badminton arena, smashes, flicks and all, to the fans in the comfort of their own homes. This is as close to the real thing as it gets, short of the fans returning to the arena. Aside from creating the spatialisation and improving the immersion, SXFI LIVE will let people hear more details from the matches, through an ultra-wide soundstage compared to regular audio.”

SXFI LIVE for all BWF Major Championships and BWF World Tour Finals

SXFI LIVE will be featured in all of BWF’s top-tier Major tournaments in 2021, including the TOTAL BWF Sudirman Cup, TOTAL BWF Thomas and Uber Cup Finals, BWF World Championships and HSBC BWF World Tour Finals.

For more information, please visit https://www.creative.com/BWFSXFI.