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We can summarise our main points:
- Binaural audio is typically two-channel audio that sounds like humans hear. It is now being implemented in ASMR, Augmented Reality, and Virtual Reality to improve the sense of reality and immersion.
- We have a complex web of cues that help us localise
sound. The most important of these are the Interaural Time Differences (ITDs), Interaural Intensity Differences (IIDs), and the monoaural spectral cues shaped by the geometry of the pinna. - We can either get binaural audio by recording it binaurally or synthesising binaural audio from mono signals.
- We use measured Head-Related Transfer Functions to create a filter that we can use to filter mono signals and have them sound binaural. A Head-Related Transfer Function is the characterization of how our ears receive sound from a particular point in space.
- We can listen to binaural audio through headphones or loudspeakers. Headphones are more widely used though have their own issues such as Inside-Head Locatedness. Loudspeakers can sound more accurate but require Cross-Talk Cancellation. Both have their advantages and disadvantages depending on what is necessary for the VR environment.
- We can eliminate Inside-Head-Locatedness and Cross-Talk.