What's the difference between Universal and Personalized Profiles?

Call of Duty's Enhanced Headphone Mode is powered by Embody's Immerse Spatial Audio tech, and has two listening options for you to choose from. 

1. Universal Profile

A Universal Profile is basically a default spatial audio setting designed to work well for most games and players. It’s based on average head and ear shapes, plus generalized sound game audio, to give you a good all-around listening experience. You’ll find these in most surround sound and spatial audio setups like Dolby Atmos, Playstation's 3D Audio, or Windows Sonic.

But the Universal Profile in Call of Duty’s Enhanced Headphone Mode is next-level. It’s built directly into the game, giving it full access to all the 360° sound elements in COD. Plus, it’s fine-tuned by the COD sound team to match the game’s exact audio mix. So it’s a way more customized experience than other standard profiles. The best part? You don’t have to set anything up—just switch it on, and you’ll instantly feel more immersed with better sound direction in the game.

2. Personalized Profile

A Personalized Profile goes beyond just game-specific tuning—it’s custom-fit to your head, ears, and your unique hearing. It uses AI and machine learning to create a profile that’s totally tailored to how you hear.

Immerse analyzes the shape of your head and ears to create a Head-Related Transfer Function (HRTF).  It models how sound waves interact with your head and ears, creating a custom audio experience that’s optimized for how your brain is trained to hear spatial sound in real life.

The result? You get highly accurate sound directionality and a way more immersive experience. 

Key Differences Between Universal and Personalized Profiles

Aspect	Universal Profile	Personalized Profile
Customization	One-size-fits-all based on average head and ear shapes	Tailored to the individual’s head and ear shape
Ease of Setup	Instant, requires no setup	Requires image scanning for personalization
Cost	Free to all players	30-day free trial, then one-time payment of $19.99 to unlock

Want to learn more about Personalization? Check out this blog article.