The illusion creates three-dimensional audio, which is not to be confused with surround sound. It’s a simple concept, but when done with high-quality microphones and played over equally high-quality headphones, the effect is eerie: it fools the brain into believing it's hearing the sounds firsthand.ĪT&T's Oscar, an early binaural recording dummy.

The effect is best experienced over headphones, with a clear distinction between left and right perspectives. Because the dummy head recreates the density and shape of a human head, these microphones capture and process sound exactly as it would be heard by human ears, preserving interaural cues.

Binaural recording takes the stereo method one step further by placing two microphones in ear-like cavities on either side of a stand or dummy head.

Mono uses a single microphone to pick up sound, while stereo uses two, spaced apart from each other. Traditionally, recordings have been made using two methods: mono and stereo. The brain scrutinizes these miniscule interaural differences of time and strength in order to localize sound with immaculate precision. In addition, sound waves interact with the physical constitution of the listener - the pinna (or outer ear), the head, and the torso - and the surrounding space, creating listener-specific variations otherwise known as head-related transfer function. If a dog barks by our left ear, it takes a few extra microseconds for the bark to reach the right ear the sound will also be louder in one ear than the other. The architecture of our anatomy dictates how we understand the sounds we hear: with an ear on either side of a thick skull and spongy brain, we hear sounds enter our left and right ears at different times. But with the rise of virtual reality hardware like the Oculus Rift, Sony’s Morpheus, and Samsung’s Gear - systems dependent on realistic 3D audio to fully immerse their users - binaural audio is on the cusp of a renaissance.īinaural recording systems are unique because they emulate the workings of the human head. And if you record a band, you’ll hear it exactly as the band was positioned when playing.'įor decades, binaural recording was a novelty, and overlooked for less technically demanding methods. 'You can hear a bird flying over your head. 'It puts you in the exact sound field as originally intended,' says Choueiri of binaural recordings. If only for a few split seconds, my brain was tricked into believing the performance was actually live, and not recorded. I instinctively turned to look in that direction. A couple of soulful verses later, a violinist on the left grabbed my attention. A cellist on the right plucked on the strings of the instrument. Moments later, Amber Rubarth’s folksy voice filled the room as she sang an acoustic rendition of Louis Armstrong’s 'A Kiss to Build a Dream On.' The room transformed into an intimate live music venue and the soundscape was vivid: Rubarth was positioned right in front of me, with her band members on either side. Sitting in an adjacent chair, Choueiri swiped through his iPad to set up a binaural audio demonstration. In his warmly lit apartment, a pair of speakers loomed over me as I sank into a leather couch in the living room.

Headphones wont play binaural sound