ALERT!!! Dr Who in Binaural Audio

Black Hole

May contain traces of nut
According to Click, tonight's horror-genre episode of Dr Who will be available with binaural audio - but only the iPlayer version (not the broadcast).

Thank God (af123) for CF "save last streamed content".
 
Does 'binaural' mean stereo?
Not ordinary stereo, although the acoustic information is encoded in a stereo channel (and is therefore amenable to transmission through an ordinary stereo audio channel).

You have to listen through headphones, and the sound presented to each ear is rendered so that the mix of individual sources into L and R are specifically calculated to recreate the effects on timing and attenuation that a real source in the intended 3D location would create in your own ears. The effect is to convince the brain that a sound really is emanating from exactly the direction intended (and not just in a horizontal plane) far more effectively than 5.1 - like VR for acoustics. You have to keep your head still though, otherwise the sound field will rotate with you!

The early days of binaural audio simply used microphones in the ears of a dummy head instead of an ordinary stereo microphone, so the computations were performed by modelling. Now they use computer power to take individual sounds and their location in three dimensions (relative to the listener, and possibly moving) to render the overall soundtrack.

For more info see Click 6/5/17 and 23/4/16.
 
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Weren't the beeb doing that years ago? I remember listening to the odd broadcast via headphones. I would guess in the 70s.
 
Thanks for the heads up as I had just downloaded the standard version to my tablet to try it out and there was no indication it was not the one with the enhanced audio. I foresee a lot of comments from people thinking they were listening to the enhanced audio when they were not and not reckoning much to it. Epic fail from the BBC there.
 
Yes it is available through the Humax TV portal. It starts with a segment which says to "Make sure your headphones are on the right way round".
 
"Make sure your headphones are on the right way round".
Does anyone really need instructions to do this? I always put mine on with one earphone on my forehead and the other on back-of-head!

Seriously, someone should tell the broadcasters which way to send the audio. I've had to put headphones on the wrong way round to get the left on the left sometimes. Very offputting to have a vehicle drive right to left across screen with the audio going left to right.:rolleyes:
 
The cable always connects to the left side and the controls for wireless phones tend to be on the right.
 
In what way is that statement not true? If there are cables then you would not say "The cable".
 
One set of headphones I have has a socket on either side, you use either with a standard audio cable.

Some have no cable, others have Bluetooth, or a cable connection for when you prefer wired.
 
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