This website is an information source detailing the history and use of binaural and how it can be used effectively. It also covers how a simple binaural setup can be achieved. But firstly...
What is Binaural Sound and How Does It Work?
The term binaural is used to describe the use of both ears (Merriam-webster.com, n.d.). Technically all listening by a person that has two functioning ears is binaural, although the term has come to be used in a certain way (Rumsey, 2011). Binaural sound imitates the way human ears pick up sound. When humans naturally hear sound their head and ears affect the way it is perceived. Listening to binaural sound on headphones recreates this affect. It gives a realistic impression to the listener as if they were in the same space as the recording. Whereas, listening in stereo sounds more like the sound is coming from inside the listeners’ head (Pike, 2013). ‘Binaural recordings are reproductions of sound the way human ears hear it’ (Kall Binaural Audio, 2014).
The most realistic way of recording binaural sound is by using a dummy head microphone, shown in Figure 1. This is essentially a dummy head with a microphone in each ear. The best results are achieved by using a dummy head as closely resembling a human head (Failure and Success of Dummy Head Recording: An Innovation History of 3D Listening, 2016). When played back, binaural recordings allow the listener to hear the spatial location of each sound the way we naturally do. ‘It’s the purest, most natural way to record and listen’ (Kall Binaural Audio, 2014). In an early explanation of binaural sound, Rose Marie Grentzer describes it as a ‘sound that you feel as a presence rather than just hear’ (Grentzer, 1953).
Figure 1 Binaural Head
Binaural sound can also be achieved using a complex mathematical algorithm to simulate the way ears pick up sound. This is known as Simulated dummy head recording (Revolvy.com, n.d.). Much academic research has been conducted into binaural sound, but it is only gradually becoming popular and a part of commercial music and sound. Headphone use is an increasingly popular way to consume music and the most suitable method of consuming binaural audio. Binaural is yet to take advantage of this fact, this could be due to it being too complicated and expensive for multiple versions of music to be created (Rumsey, 2014).
One of the most popular binaural audio examples is the virtual haircut. Listen to Figure 2 below with headphones to hear the full spatial and directional characteristics of the sound.
Figure 2 Virtual Barber Shop