spatial audio

Spatial audio adds a sense of direction and distance to sound, so that even with your eyes closed, you can guess where a sound is coming from.

Think of a concert hall or movie theater, where speakers placed all around you send sound from different directions. Spatial audio recreates that same sense of depth, but through a single pair of headphones instead of multiple speakers. If you turn your head to the right, the technology recalculates so that a sound that used to come from your right now seems to come from relatively more to your left. This creates the illusion that you're actually standing inside the space where the sound is happening.

These days, the technology is also used in video calls, virtual reality, and the voices of AI-generated avatars. When several people speak at once, giving each voice a different sense of position makes it easier to tell by ear who is speaking from where.

Play a piece of music or video labeled as supporting spatial audio, such as Dolby Atmos, through headphones or earbuds. While it's playing, slowly turn your head from side to side and notice whether the sound stays fixed in place or moves along with your head. If head tracking is turned on, you'll notice the latter.