We bought my father-in-law a DAB radio so that he could listen the the cricket, or to the World Service, to keep in touch with the world. Sound was something he could still enjoy and it occurred to me, a little too late, that, now better and travelling the world, I could have used sound to also take him to those places and get him, at least in his mind, out of the house.
Binaural recording is a method of recording sound that uses two microphones, arranged with the intent to create a 3D stereo sound sensation for the listener of actually being in the place the recording was made. Recordings made this way are intended for replay using headphones and its effect does not translate properly over stereo speakers.
This effect is often created using a technique known as "dummy head recording", wherein a mannequin head is outfitted with a microphone in each ear so typically the 'listener' position is stationary whilst sounds are captured from around it. It works because the microphones are the same distance apart as our ears. This spacial relationship isn't the only important factor. The mannequins moulded ears create all of the audio frequency adjustments that our ears do in order for our brain to tell not just that something is on the right had side of us but that it is also behind us.
Mannequin heads with microphones are expensive and not highly portable so I sought to use my own head, as I take that on all of my business trips. This isn't a new method of recording and in 1974, the year I was born, Sennheiser made the first set of clip in microphones that would allow the sound recordist to use their own head and Ross make a more modern version.
So equipped with the audio recorder I used to record my blog on when I was in hospital I am going out into pretty ordinary parts of the world and trying to capture the sounds I find there. My hope is that anyone who can't get there or can't even get out can put on some headphones and for a while at least find themselves elsewhere.
