VRChat World Audio Layers & Zones

Discord: https://discord.gg/pGwkH6ueQu

We’ve updated our audio system to support two complementary ways of controlling player voice audio — giving world creators more flexibility depending on the space they’re building.

This update does not replace the existing voice dampening system.Instead, it adds a full Voice Zone system alongside it.

🧱 What Stayed the Same — Voice Dampening Areas

The original Voice Dampening Areas are still fully supported and unchanged.

These are ideal for:

softening voices through walls

reducing bleed between nearby spaces

creating distance-based muffling

subtle audio separation without hard cutoffs

If you’re already using dampening areas, you don’t need to change anything.

🆕 What’s New — Voice Zones (Hard Audio Separation)

This update introduces Voice Zones, which allow you to create hard audio separation between spaces.

With Voice Zones:

Players inside the same zone hear each other normally

Players in different zones cannot hear each other at all

This works even if players are physically close in the world

This is ideal for:

clubs with multiple rooms

private booths

staff-only areas

parallel conversations

event spaces where audio bleed is undesirable

⚙️ How Voice Zones Work (High Level)

Zones are defined using simple volume shapes (Box Zones)

Each client determines who can hear who by comparing player positions against zone volumes

No triggers, no synced state, no per-player networking

Fully multiplayer-safe and deterministic

The result is predictable, reliable audio isolation without added network complexity.

🧩 Designed to Work Together

Voice Dampening Areas and Voice Zones are not mutually exclusive.

You can:

Use Voice Zones to control who can hear each other

Use Dampening Areas to control how voices sound through space

This lets you build worlds with:

hard separation between rooms

natural falloff and occlusion inside those rooms