Binaural audio through headphones

Headphones provide us the most direct way of delivering audio content. In properly positioned traditional headphones, this means the left channel to the left ear, and the right channel to the right ear. That’s it. And because we only have two ears, this method of delivering the audio should (in theory) be able to reproduce an aural experience that is virtually identical to the sound we experience in the natural environment. Yet our experiences of listening to sound through headphones range from disappointing to ones depicting absolute realism. This chapter focuses on the many acoustic and psychoacoustic factors, theories, and processing methods used to create immersive audio over headphones, as well as their impact and contribution to the resulting listening experience.