Monday, 3/4/2024
4:00pm | Iger
Faculty Lecture: Math and Music Presentation: Can you hear the shape of an ear? Examining immersive audio and the effects of personal geometry on our perception
Dolby Atmos. Sony 360. Spatial Audio. Immersive Sound. These are terms that one may recognize as recent entries into spec sheets and promotional materials on music, video, and media equipment, and they all refer to the latest generation of surround sound formats in music, film, and television. Whereas most recorded music over the past half-century has been distributed in a stereo (2-channel) format, immersive audio creates a 3-dimensional aural environment where sound can be localized from above, behind, or even below the listener. Unlike earlier generations of surround sound (quadrophonic or Dolby 5.1, for example), modern immersive formats can be heard on multi-speaker arrays or just simple pair of headphones, and the average listener may have all the necessary hardware right in their pocket.

But how can a pair of earbuds create an immersive environment, and what is required to do this convincingly? The mechanisms of this process are highly dependent on the geometry of ones’ ears, and so your brain has actually learned to decode the spatial data in your hearing in a very individualized system. This presentation will explore the fundamental concepts of sound localization in the human auditory system and their implications for both conventional stereo and modern immersive audio formats. We will investigate the theory of how simple differences in geometry can change the sound profile localization process, consider the complexity of modeling the acoustics of spatial hearing, and unpack data collected from individuals in practice. Audio demonstrations of these phenomena will be given as we examine some of the tools used to simulate spatialization in headphone playback.

Free, open to the public