Frequencies

Put in headphones. Play this video. Close your eyes. It’s only 5 minutes and it’s worth it. Amazing, right?

This illusion is created by the magic of holophonics. Holophonics is the production of sound that seems to move as it does in real life. As someone walks around while speaking, we can see them move. But we can also hear the sound coming from a slightly different direction. It is precise enough to hear “luigi” travel around the room, while someone plays guitar in the background. You can hear the razor trim different sides of your head with such precision that it gives me flashbacks to when I used to get all my hair buzzed off. The ability to track sound through out space is an amazing feature of the human mind and it does so through only two sensors(our ears).

How can our brain figure out exactly where a sound is coming from? 

We only have two ears, so shouldn’t we be able to tell left and right. How can we tell the difference between something thats directly in front of us and directly behind us. This is the magic of the human brain. It uses the minute differences in milliseconds between when a sound reaches the right ear and the left ear to determine the x,y position of the sound in relation to the head. It also uses the slight difference in amplitude to tell the distance and direction. Sound localization is an interesting evolutionary adaptation that allows us to understand our surroundings.

Sound visualization is a testament to how powerful the human brain is.

This is a visualization of sound localization. Sound waves are emanated from a source(the radio) and travel towards your head. It reaches which ever ear is closer to the source first, then reaches the second ear. Your brain is able to use that difference in sound reaching the ear (visualized by the dotted line) to calculate the position of the source of the sound. Combined with the difference in amplitude(volume) this allow an amazing perception of space with just two hearing orifices.

Some blind people have an amazing and ingenuous way of navigating the world.

Human echolocation is the process of bouncing sound off objects to gain an awareness of your surroundings. Many humans who are born without the sense of sight must rely on this form of spatial awareness to navigate the world around them. Without any visual distractions, they can develop and finely tune their sense of sound localization to the point similar to animals like a bat and a whale. These people often use snaps or clicks and then listen for the reflection of the sound wave.

Sound can travel through space in very interesting ways. It’s cool to watch.

This link is a small interactive model of how sound can interact with various objects. Although, echolocation is a practice that takes lots of time to learn and apply, this visual shows how sound can move and interact with objects. The walls of your house will react differently than other objects. This is how blind people can tell what different objects are in space such as a car or a tree. This is key to echolocation and to sound localization in closed spaces.

Wouldn’t this technology be amazing in music? It isn’t widely known, but it’s been done.

This album(The Final Cut- Pink Floyd) makes use of holophonics. Maybe, you’re not a Pink Floyd fan. Me, I know I definitely prefer my Lil Yachty and 21 Savage to Pink Floyd. To be honest, I haven’t even listened to the whole album, I just skipped around looking for examples of 3D sounds. But what these pioneers of music showed is that this technique can be used effectively in music. This technique can create mind blowing pieces of art and immersive soundtracks.