Vertical sound localization

Alright kiddo, have you ever closed your eyes and listened to someone speak or make a sound? You probably noticed that you can tell if the sound is coming from in front of you, behind you, or beside you, right? This is called sound localization - it's your brain's way of figuring out where the sound is coming from.

But did you know that your brain can also tell if the sound is coming from above you or below you? This is called vertical sound localization.

Your ears help your brain figure out where sounds are coming from. You have two ears, and they're on opposite sides of your head. When a sound comes from in front of you, it reaches your two ears at about the same time, and it sounds like it's right in front of you. But if a sound comes from one side, it reaches the closer ear a little bit sooner than the farther ear. Your brain can figure this out and tell you which side the sound is coming from.

For vertical sound localization, your ears use a similar trick, but this time they're paying attention to the direction of the sound waves. When a sound comes from above you, it reaches your ears at a slightly different angle than when it comes from below you. Your brain can figure out which angle the sound is coming from and tell you if it's coming from above or below.

Scientists have done experiments to learn more about how this works, and they've found that tiny differences in the way sound waves bounce off your ears can help your brain figure out vertical sound localization. Pretty cool, huh?