People can tell if a sound is coming from their right or left, by the small delay of the sound reaching their ears. How do people recognise if a sound comes from above or below?

Question

People can tell if a sound is coming from their right or left, by the small delay of the sound reaching their ears. How do people recognise if a sound comes from above or below?

In: 222

Answer 1

Related question: why is a ringing cellphone so goddamn hard to locate inside a house?

Answer 2

Just another question because there arenso good answers: How do people wit one ear do that?

Answer 3

By the HRTF, the Head Related Transfer Function.

This is, in mathematical terms, the function that is applied to a sound wave, which shapes it depending on where it comes from. It affects different frequencies differently, and it’s slightly different for everybody.

Your brain notices slight differences in timing and frequencies between your left and right ear, and also the reflections and dampening of your ear shape, which is different depending on where sound comes from. From that, it creates an intuitive understanding of where sound is coming from. This has to be learned.