Surround Sound With Headphones?? | HRTF & Binaural Audio Explained

Is it possible to listen to surround sound in headphones? The short answer is "yes". The psychoacoustic principles behind binaural technology are fascinating! In this video, you'll learn about ILDs, ITDs, and HRTFs - the sound localization cues that form the foundation of immersive audio!
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Musical Performance (Binaural Audio Demo):
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Virtual Barber Shop (Binaural Audio Demo):
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Sound On Sound - An Introduction to Binaural Recording:
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[@seankayll9017]

I made my own binaural mic using a pair of Behringer C2 mics and a pair of silicone acupuncture practice ears (plus some other bits). Cost about £100. Works great!

[@aan3378]

Amazing! Maybe post a video about it? I’m also considering building one myself.

[@aangtonio5570]

Nice! Can you share a tutorial?

[@moulimarur]

This is about the best explanation of this whole complex realm. Thanks a ton.

[@AudioUniversity]

Glad to help!

[@risheyrsp]

Excellent Video Again! Quite informative. Thanks Kyle and the team!

[@BydSteve]

Fabulous video - I really love your content. Thanks, you've taught this 50+er so much.

[@knp7180]

Got a bit better understanding about those mics being used in asmr videos. Never thought of the actual mechanisms behind it. Much appreciated!

[@martinbladelvan1949]

Thank you so much for this content, the Sennheiser plugin is just what I was looking for!

[@RedRanger-ll7hx]

Thank you for this explination, this one is the best explainations and demonstrations I've seen when reserching into this topic

[@AudioUniversity]

Glad it was helpful!

[@IrorogheneOdafejirorosua]

Wow. This video had me blown away when you went behind the mic 🔥

[@flavours-music]

Amazing video so helpful and interesting thanks for sharing :)))

[@jobaecker9752]

Great information as it applies to real-world sound creation, experiencing and recording!

[@shinvergil]

A very important video and info. Thanks.

[@AudioUniversity]

Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching!

[@invendelirium]

Cool! Are you planning on covering ambisonics as well?

[@sr3d-microphones]

Dont forget the SR3D We place the capsules behind the Tragus for a more realistic and natural sound, other microphones tend not to do this. Indeed the ears are very important for the audio to have notch filtering and reflections that give binaural audio. Our mics are probably the cheapest on the market, and very popular with ASMR artists and field recordists

[@emiel333]

Great ❤ video, Kyle. I own a Sennheiser Ambeo headset. It has two outer facing binaural mics (L & R), has a built-in audio interface from Apogee, has a dedicated app and works on iPhone and iPad only. I understand the differences between a standalone mic and a headset like mine when recording. But it’s lots of fun to experiment with! Made some awesome recordings this year. Like a thunderstorm above my city when I was at home. It’s awesome. I’ve also got some plug-ins for binaural effects and the Dolby Atmos features in Logic Pro on my Mac 🖥️

[@AudioUniversity]

Very cool, Emiel333! Thanks for watching and sharing!

[@emiel333]

@@AudioUniversity Thank you for your kind words and reply, Kyle. Really appreciate it.

[@Rod-Wheeler]

I have this mic. It is amazing!

[@gnagyusa]

3:40 : that was pretty interesting. I saw you in front of me, but the sound was coming from behind me.

[@dewaadrian]

This is it!. 😉 Thanks Kyle. Next video: all about Dolby Atmos, maybe?

[@AudioUniversity]

That's a great idea, Dewa! I'm currently researching Dolby Atmos to make a video for you!

[@dewaadrian]

@@AudioUniversity I am so excited

[@daveon15672]

Dolby Atmos (when listened through binaural headsets) is still a form of stereo. I’ve yet to hear sounds appear as though they come from in front, above or behind me. That said, I am listening on headphones with a generalized head related transfer function. Are there any companies out there that make relatively flat sounding headphones based on your exact head related transfer function?

[@NordicDan]

I would say any traditional studio monitor style headphones should help, but having an accurate HRTF to your shape of head and ears makes a huge difference. Some processing systems use SOFA files with parameters for all sorts of different head/ear configurations to better generate a binaural sound "customized" to you. My notebook is connected to a small vacuum tube amp that I connect my modified Sony MDR-V600 phones to and the surround effect with binaural processing is amazing when I listen to something that uses an HRTF fairly close to how I process my own audio. Caveat though; I have not experimented with any Dolby ATMOS mixes so I can't speak to those specifically.

[@Dave_the_Dave]

Maybe this is a dumb question but when you rotated the binaural mic so you were "behind" it, how come it sounded like you were then on the "wrong" side? When you were to the left on screen, it sounded like you were behind me on the left but should have sounded like behind to the right? Edit: Nevermind! I saw the answer in another comment.

[@Nirossen]

It didn't sound like you were behind me as much because the L/R was swapped. If you are behind me and come up to my right ear I should hear it as so. I feel like because you were in front the whole time and the L/R was normal, when you turned the ears around the audio should have also reversed channels, but for some reason when you walk up to the device's "right" ear, I hear it in the headphone's left ear.

[@AudioUniversity]

Yes. I swapped the panning in post. If you close your eyes and listen though, the “behind you” effect still works!

[@Nirossen]

@@AudioUniversity That is true, I did that as well and could tell. I understand you swapped it for consistency and less variables. I think our brains just naturally use that as a key to understanding the location of the speaker and it caught me off guard. Great video regardless, your channel is a newfound gem for me.

[@AudioUniversity]

Thanks, Nirossen! It was a tough decision - I just kept getting thrown off during editing, so I decided it would be best to change it.

[@mlwsf]

Would you consider doing a video on the inverse square law?

[@AudioUniversity]

I’ve already made one, Mark! Check it out here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/q563hIqAaLWChc0

[@ramanmono]

Since this is University, can you explain why the virtual barber shop from like a 100 years ago is the best binaural recording in existence? What is that algorithm they speak of that negates the presence of the recording device?

[@jonesaleroy]

For anyone that truly enjoys hifi sounds and care about accurate sound reproduction need to watch this channel. I install very high fidelity car audio where the perfect Environmental is far from attainable. But with proper techniques and tuning using fundamentals I've learned here I've been able to experience alost a perfect studio sound environment with explosive transient attacks and live recordings with detail I've never experienced before. Definitely worth a watch. Also sign up for the news letter. Great stuff in there for the true audiophiles.

[@vitaminzeth3742]

Love the video man~!

[@AudioUniversity]

Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching!

[@simplyputviewstv5655]

Brilliant relaying of key principles as asual...tho I can't see myself spending $5k on a microphone...that's an entire studio for me lol💯👊

[@WhimsiLooml1118]

if you dont move can you feel where the sound from？

[@harryflashman4542]

Wouldn't a "head" require a nasal cavity and aural canals to mimic how we hear?

[@AudioUniversity]

I was talking with Stefan Peus, an engineer at Neumann who was on the team for the KU100 binaural mic. He said that their research showed that most (if not all) of the effect comes from only the first 2 cm within the ear canal. I was surprised to hear that.

[@eeasante]

Wow, thank you

[@AudioUniversity]

Glad you liked it, Samuel! Thanks for watching.

[@Alepap.]

1:06 And sometimes LSDs XD

[@user-beerus]

Thank you

[@AudioUniversity]

Thanks for watching!

[@PartyMusic775]

A little bit of science to help people out, since this is a fascinating field that needs its falsehoods fixed so we can make progress. The eared dummy head with dual mics that you show, suffers a "double-ear effect" when playback comes through headphones. I'll explain. First, recorded sound is filtered by the artificial ears. Next, playback of that recording is filtered once again by the real ears. So it's like having four ear: an extra ear over each ear. Therefore, what you are showing here is ABSOLUTELY INAPPROPRIATE for headphones !!! Arguably, this setup is OK for IEM. Except: the brain has learned to process the signals based on what its own ear shapes do to the sound, so while this kinda works on IEM, it would be as if you got alien ear transplants from a donor and it may create a confusing adjustment period (unless the artificial ears were shape-cloned from the individual experiencing the playback!) Headphones have it much easier. The mics can be placed between a sonic separator shield as wide as a head. (Minor improvements may be made by studying and imitating the reflective and absorptive properties of the human head across the audible frequency range, but without any of that, any decent absorptive shield will do a decent job.) Note that even so, this creates what I'd call 2D 360 sound, rather than 3D sound, because vertical directional clues in the soundwave are captured by strange bends and twists in the outer ear and how it eventually channels to the inner ear. For perfect 3D you'd need 4 or more channels per ear. Hope that helps! (Anonymous Ph.D.)

[@yanduval7172]

It's not exactly like you are saying. The pinnae is indeed very important for height estimation. If you use earbuds, you don't really hear your ear during playback. In fact, even with over-the-ear headphones, our pina response is more or less defeated by the huge relative size of the closeby loudspeaker. Your ear is receiving sound coming from all directions at the same time. Now I agree that using artificial ear might be bad if they are really different from yours. So the best is to be able to use a recording without ears, and then add your customized digital HRTF while playing back.

[@AGILISFPV]

How does the Smyth a16 realiser accomplish this? Isn't their mic placed in the inner ear?

[@lakshitharathnayake6893]

❤️👍❤️

[@patriciaoudart1508]

👍🙏💚