From: Dan Dugan <>
>
> Greg, you wrote,
>
>
>>>Methinks, there must be something to having the ability to hear with
>>>two ears - if one is lucky enough to have kept them both on.
>>>
>>>If you've got a big head, like mine, there is probably a lot of
>>>difference between what the right and left ear hears, especially in
>>>a pub!
>>>
>>>I don't know if that difference is referred to as a phase
>>>difference, or some other kind of acoustic difference, but I would
>>>like to know how to describe it, and would be interested to hear -
>>>oops - from someone who knows.
>
>
> It's called binaural! It's complicated and unlike anything else. But
> any reasonably close facsimile reaps much of the value, like mounting
> omnis either side of your head.
>
> -Dan Dugan
Strictly speaking binaural is a specific subset of the two mics on the
head setups. It positions the mics in the entrance of the ear canals,
picking up the sound after all external head structure including the
external ears have had a go at it. Then in playing it back (which in
true binaural only works well with headphones) you reproduce the
recorded sound at that same location to pass on into the rest of the ear
inside. This is all done to preserve all the cues you would get from
listening to the natural sound directly.
The binaural mics that look like you mugged a store dummy set up the
mics the same way. But you are not the mic holder.
The sound of binaural can be extremely natural sounding. But the picky
way it's recorded, and the limitations on playback have lead to a lot of
experimentation as to how to preserve the good stuff while getting
around the limitations.
Two mics placed anywhere else on the head are just two spaced mics with
a barrier between. Usually omni mics are used. Call them head worn or
head spaced. In some cases those placements work well with speakers as
well as with headphones, a desirable feature. But they rarely exactly
reproduce the natural cues. The stereo they can produce is often
excellent. It still closely resembles the way we hear with most of the
cues still intact.
The modified SASS mics I use are also part of the "head spaced" mic
type. In this case our head is imitated by a solid block of foam, the
mics are spaced about the same as our ears, and the mics are in angled
boundary surfaces that control the angle of fairly even sound pickup to
similar to what we get (about 3/4 of a circle). The stereo is very
natural sounding.
There are other stereo setups that also use head spacing, with or
without barriers.
Walt
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