W here it’sat “W ith arealygood speaker,you can localise soundswith incredible ac uracy,” saysEntwistle.“AtDynaudio we evaluate ourspeakersin stereo even though m anyothersfolow guidelines from the AES (Audio Engineering Society)to use m ono because it’seasierto geta consistentresult.” Entwistle and hiscoleaguesuse awide range ofm usicto help them as es the perform ance oftheirspeakersduring developm ent,buthe pointsattwo particularfavouritesthatm ake use ofthe abiltyto recreate 3D sound efects.The firstwordsof Vogue byM adonnasweep acros the listenerbefore aclick appearshigh on the left.The Balad ofBilHubbard byRoger W atersfeaturesadog barking behind and to the right,before a radio appearson the floorto the left. “A lotofthisstereo im aging and im m ersivenes hasto do with the fundam entaltracking thatappearswhen you putaproperly integrated subwooferonto aspeaker,”saysEntwistle.“The low-frequencyinform ation seem sto help ourbrainsproces the otherinform ation in som e way.” Close youreyesand see There issom e evidence thatdepriving ourselvesofourother senses,such assight,can also alterourexperiences.A sm alstudy conducted byresearchersin Israelfound thatwhen volunteers closed theireyeswhile listening to clipsofm usicfrom film s,they experienced agreaterem otionalresponse.Theyalso showed greateractivation in a partofthe brain known asthe am ygdala, as ociated with proces ing em otion.VictoriaW iliam son,am usic psychologistwho untilrecentlywasaresearcheratthe University ofShefield butnow worksasan independentacadem ic, describesgeting “chils”when atending aconcertheld in a totalydarkroom because “expectation based on the perform ers’ m ovem entswasrem oved,which resulted in som e lovelym usical surprises”.
“The proces ing partofourbrainsis basicalya patern recognition m achine,” saysStephen Entwistle,Dynaudio’schief engineer,acoustics.“Thisiswhywe can localise exactlywhere asound iscom ing from even with oureyesshut.O urbrainscan figure outthe size ofaroom from the way sound reflectsof the walsand objectsin it, and recognise the voicesofpeople we know on the phone even ifthey’re distorted.They filterinterfering soundsand even replace fundam entalnotesfrom m usicifthey’re mising.” Butitalso m eansthatourbrainscan be tricked through the use ofauditoryilusions. The m ostfam ilarofthese psychoacoustic efectsisthe use ofstereo to foolourbrains into believing asound iscom ing from a3D space ratherthan aleftand rightspeaker.
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