How do earphones create the illusion of sounds playing behind you?
In: 52
This gets asked quite a bit (in various forms). I’ve explained it before [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ldzj17/ELI5:_In_8D_audio,_how_is_the_audio_able_to_sound_like_it’s_behind_or_in_front_of_you_even_though_there_are_only_left_or_right_outputs?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button), but the basic idea is that you’re always listening in stereo. All a pair of headphones is doing is mimicking the sounds that each ear gets, and letting your brain make sense of tiny differences that are baked into the recording, maybe using computers for virtual acoustics or maybe by recording with microphones in somebody else’s ears.
Latest Answers