ABSTRACT
This chapter describes three-dimensional (3D) “binaural” sound, its role on the desktop and specifically in immersive gaming, and why 3D sound is best reproduced using headphones. Binaural sound can effectively be reconstructed using crosstalk cancellation techniques. A positionally stable binaural sound image comes mostly from a wavelength-based interaction of the arriving sound with the head and the visible part of each ear. This is especially true for higher frequencies, say from 1500 Hz up. Like the study of gravity, the study of 3D sound, which scientists call binaural sound, has a long history. Binaural sound is created from an unlocalized free-field sound by either putting it through a pair of actual, physical, ear shapes configured like a head with ears. Since most gamers choose loudspeakers rather than headphones, it’s worth mentioning how the growth of 3D sound content in games may affect the headphone market.
