Why don’t more journalists and documentary makers use spatial audio? Barriers to sonic experimentation in contemporary radio and podcast production cultures

There has certainly been a revival of interest in what is known variously as spatial, immersive or three-dimensional sound in radio and podcasting in recent years. It has been used in news, documentaries, investigative series and audio dramas. But this article turns instead to its relative lack of use. Focusing on factual programmes and based on research with programme-makers from several countries over five years, I analyse the reasons they give for not using spatial sound as often as they want and identify significant underlying cultural patterns that constitute wider cultural problems in the radio and podcast sector. These threaten to undermine the growth and development of narrative audio more generally.