 Hey, you should wear headphones for this. It's gonna be pretty cool. I mean, it'll be cool without them, but trust me, it'll be a lot more cool if you put on headphones. A couple years ago, I was on the internet looking at pictures of Radiohead in the studio because look at me. Of course, this guy is on the internet looking at pictures of Radiohead in the studio. And I came across this picture of Tom York, the lead singer, playing piano with this little mannequin head with a hat on and little audio cables coming out the ends of it. And I was like, what is this thing? Luckily there was an even nerdier person on another Radiohead site who was like, this is a binaural microphone. It's a special type of microphone that has two microphones embedded in the ears and when played back on headphones, it will sound like Tom York is in the room with you playing piano just for you. This blew my mind. I got extremely into binaural audio. And guess what? Listen to this. This is binaural audio. Right now, if you're wearing headphones, it should sound like you're in New York City. Over here, there should be people walking on the other side. You hear that car honk? Maybe you should be able to place that in space. Cut to the other camera. So, how we're doing this is with this other microphone. It's not a mannequin head. This is made by 3DO. And check this out. Let's get a little close here. So this looks like a real ear and it actually flexes like a real ear. So it looks kind of funny, but it actually plays an important role in the way we hear things. Before the sound gets to the microphone, it bounces around all these little surfaces and shapes sound in the same way your ear would shape sound before it reaches your eardrum. Hello, my dear. You should be hearing me on your left side right now. And now you should be hearing me on your right side, my dear. Initial googlings of the keyword binaural will lead to some goofy results, the most popular being binaural beats. Now, these aren't recorded with a binaural mic. They're just different tones in different ears meant to elicit such things as creativity, sleep, concentration, sexual stimulation, opening your third eye, all kinds of stuff. It's not really science, but it is pseudoscience. And if you believe in it hard enough, maybe the placebo effect will kick in. Do you feel your third eye opening? But by far the most popular form of real binaural recording comes in the form of ASMR videos. You know those videos where people crinkle paper or talk very softly? For some people, this triggers a very pleasurable, tingly feeling. The Virtual Barbershop is a classic. Follow me as I move around the back of the head to the left ear. And there's also ASMR unboxing videos. There's tons of these. And then there's this guy. This guy is very cool. He has so many views. I'm pretty sure this is his job. Oh my god. But let's get deeper into the science of binaural. The same way we use two eyes to see in 3D, we also use two ears to hear in 3D. The way we do that is arrival time, loudness, and frequency range, or timbre. So when my girlfriend's bird chirps, it arrives first in the right ear, and then a tiny fraction of a second later, it arrives in the left ear. Not only that, but it should be a little bit louder in the right side. Finally the timbre, or distortion of that sound wave through the space, bouncing off the walls around your head. And when that sound finally arrives in each ear, the shape of the sound has changed so much that the difference between the same sound in the left ear and the right ear can tell us where it came from. That's why things like distance between the ears, their shape, and the density of the material between them is so important. I know you're probably thinking, what about 5.1 audio? Yes, 5.1 is immersive, but it's not exactly the same. Let's say you're watching a movie and an explosion happens on the left side of the screen. It's then paired with the sound of that explosion coming out of the left speaker. While that's a very cool effect, it's still not binaural. Dolby 5.1 and Dolby Atmos can't replicate it, even though they're so complicated. Really for binaural recording you just need those microphones that simulate human hearing and a left and right channel. And the thing is, this isn't even a new idea. People have been using techniques like this since the late 1800s. Look at this lady. But binaural audio has grown in popularity due to one huge thing. VR. Virtual reality. Right now, VR headsets do a pretty good job of tricking our eyes, but they usually ignore our ears. The good news is that's changing pretty fast. There are a decent number of companies working on not only binaural microphones, but also the software that simulates binaural audio for virtual spaces. And there are a few tests of this concept floating around the internet. One of the most impressive was this virtual Beck performance where they made this 360 degree stage and covered it in not only 360 degree cameras, but also tons of these omnibinaural microphone heads. Using face tracking, the video and audio followed the movement of your head. It worked out pretty well. It's pretty cool. It's too bad that it's Beck. I'm just kidding. Beck's alright. It was very cool. Oh, and the omnibinaural microphones were made by 3DO. That's the same company that made the microphone we were using at the beginning of this video. So you might not be able to tell, but this is actually the outro montage to this video. You might not be able to tell because it doesn't have a cool song that it's edited to, but I just wanted you to be able to hear this audio, you know? Stand clear of the closing doors, please. So, that is binaural audio. And here is one of my cats eating wet food. And here's both. Thanks for watching.