Spatial hearing

Spatial hearing is the amazing ability of our ears to understand where sounds are coming from.

Imagine that you are sitting in your room and your mom calls you from the kitchen. Even though your eyes are closed, you can still tell that she is calling you from the left side because your left ear hears the sound a little louder than your right ear.

This is possible thanks to our ears and brain working together. Our ears are shaped in a way that they capture different sounds coming from different directions, and then the brain compares these sounds to figure out where they came from.

So, when you hear a sound, your brain uses the time difference and volume difference between your two ears to pinpoint where the sound is coming from. That's why closing your eyes can help you really focus on spatial hearing - your brain doesn't get distracted by visual cues about where the sound is coming from.

Spatial hearing is important because it helps us navigate the world around us. When we hear a car honking, for example, we can tell which direction to look to avoid getting hit. It's also what helps us enjoy music, by letting us appreciate the different instruments or vocals coming from different parts of the stereo soundstage.

Overall, spatial hearing is an incredible ability that our ears and brain work together to give us. It’s one of the many ways that we take in and interact with the world around us.