Virtual Surround Sound as Fast As Possible
Techquickie
·Techquickie
·2015-05-07
·
773 words · ~3 min read
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Virtual surround is a true representation of human ingenuity and
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the advances that scientific research can have on technology. It essentially
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tricks your ears into thinking that sound which is coming from a 2.1 channel
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setup or a small strip of speakers using a technique called digital sound
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projection is actually coming from a 5.1 channel or higher speaker setup. If
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anyone doesn't know what the naming scheme for a surround speaker setup
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means, the first number five in this case refers to the number of speakers in
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the system. And the number after the point, in this case one, refers to the
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number of subwoofers in the system. Both 2.1 and digital sound projection work
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because of advancements in psycho acoustics, which is the study of sound
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perception. They trick your ears by carefully directing sound waves at
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specific angles and bouncing them off walls to make you think that the sound
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is actually coming from behind or beside you rather than in front of you. You
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see, your ears are pretty adept at recognizing where sound is coming from.
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This is why when you hear something drop in a silent room, you're often able to
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instantly identify whether the sound is to your left or right. We can tell what
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direction a sound is coming from because we have two ears which have a certain
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distance between them. So, for example, a sound to your left will be louder in
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your left ear than in your right ear. Also, the sound waves will hit your left
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ear a fraction of a second sooner than your right. It's these slight
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differences in timing and volume that tell you what direction a sound is
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coming from on the x-axis. This is called the interoral level difference
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and interoral time difference. Lucky for
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developers of virtual surround sound systems, the x-axis is the only one they
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have to worry about. This is because of something that many refer to as the cone
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of confusion, which is an area in which objects which are above or below us
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cause the same interoral level difference and interoral time
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difference. This also applies to objects which are in front of us or behind us at
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certain angles. So, how do virtual surround systems know how to simulate a
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5.1 or higher channel system? Quite simply, through recording a system of
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that size with directional microphones in a real world setting, which takes
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into account the interruptions of a soundwave by your head, neck, and shoulders, and simulating that with an
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algorithm. This is why some systems will have a room size rating and why some
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even need to be configured with a microphone to work properly. The size of
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the room needs to be accounted for so the waves can properly bounce off the
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walls to simulate full surround experience. Virtual surround headphones
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do something similar by using the shape of your ears to project sound from
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different angles. Many of these have a general oneizefits-all setting based on
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average ear sizes, but options like Razer Surround are quite customizable,
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so you can tweak the placement of each virtual speaker to perfect your
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listening experience if you so choose. To give an example of what good virtual
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surround should sound like through headphones, check out this video which
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uses bionural sound recording to simulate surround sound. So that's it.
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Virtual surround in itself isn't that complicated, but it's made possible by a
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variety of extremely complicated scientific studies and tests, but the
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this episode of Fast as Possible. Give us a like or a dislike and leave your
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comments below about virtual surround sound.