Thursday, February 12, 2015
Surrounded by sound: how 3D audio hacks your brain
The Verge: On a crisp afternoon late last year, I made my way to Manhattan’s Upper East Side to meet Edgar Choueiri, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Princeton University. Choueiri also heads the school’s 3D Audio and Applied Acoustics lab, and over the last decade, he has dedicated his time to the development, application, and refinement of binaural recording systems — a century-old method of audio recording that captures lifelike 3D audio in picture-perfect fidelity.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
A few days ago a friend in my class had me listen to a really cool (if poorly acted) segment of 3D audio, and for quite a few minutes into the recording I kept looking behind me to see if there was someone actually entering the room, or if it was just my headphones playing the sound of someone behind me. I've become obsessed with binaural sound since, and I really think, if marketed well, could become something really interesting to use in movies and film watching. It could be like Blu-Ray, or a non-flop type of 3D video, where everyone could gather around their televisions, plug in their respective headphone devices, and listen to the movie happening around their eyes. It might not make for a very sociable experience, but when I go to watch a movie for the first time I'm not looking to have an hour of chatting. Binaural sound is almost eerie to me, especially when my eyes aren't closed and I'm not imagining the scene around me taking place.
I showed binaural sounds to Nix a couple of days ago in class while we were working on mixing soundscapes for an immerse look at our basic design boxes. The binaural audio I showed her was created to stimulate an eerie interrogation room in which the interrogator whispers in your ears, paces back and forth and sharpens knives behind your neck. The first time I heard it I couldn’t help but look around for the source of the audio forgetting that it was all in my headphones. It is truly an immersive experience like no other and I’m really surprised it hasn’t caught on in mainstream entertainment, specifically film and theater. Binaural audio can definitely be used to great effect and should become the new standard in entertainment. I personally think it has a much greater level of immersion than the visual equivalent (3-D video), and as such I’m astounded that it hasn’t yet become mainstream especially since our modern perspective on entertainment is one that desires more immersion and connection. The only argument I can see against binaural integration in entertainment is that it makes the experience a highly personal one, which might not be ideal when trying to incorporate the audience in a larger collective experience. However I think this highly personal sensory effect could be extremely valuable to horror psychological pieces where it the intention might be to isolate the audience and get inside their heads.
Post a Comment