Statistically speaking, you love music — and statistically speaking, you have no idea what the difference is between mono, stereo, surround sound, and other terms from the world of audio.
So here I am to explain, as briefly as possible.
-
In the physical world, the direction and distance of audio reaching our ears carries a great deal of meaning.
We can easily tell whether a car horn is far away or close by, whether it's coming from the right or left, and even from what height in space.
In the world of electronic audio, considerable effort goes into replicating this spatial listening experience, making it resemble reality as closely as possible.
To achieve this, **channels** are used. Think of channels like lanes on a highway — each lane has a car / audio output moving in parallel with the rest.
The main audio formats in use are:
**Mono** — Sound is recorded as-is through a single microphone and played back through a single channel.
**Stereo** — Sound is recorded on separate left and right channels, and during playback there is a separate channel for the right and left speaker / earphone.
**Surround Sound** — Uses multiple channels to record and play back sound.
In 5.1-channel audio, sound is played from the front and sides (the number 5 represents front center, front right and left, and both sides, while the number 1 represents a dedicated channel for bass). In 7.1, two additional rear channels are added (right and left).
**Binaural Audio (8D)** — With this method, the audio sounds as though it is coming from the surrounding environment, rather than from the earphones actually producing it.
To create this special effect, audio is recorded using two microphones placed a human head-width apart. This way, sound is captured exactly as it is received by the ears — with the microphone farther from the sound source picking it up with a slight delay relative to the closer one.
**Ambisonics** — Similar to binaural audio. With this method, audio is captured in 360 degrees, enabling the sound to be positioned in space both above and below the listener.
**Object-Based Audio** — An advanced method used, for example, in Dolby Atmos. Here, objects are assigned audio properties and positioned independently in space. In a video game, for instance, the sound of a virtual character can be placed according to its movement through the game's three-dimensional space. In a live performance video, the singer's voice can be positioned according to their movement across the stage.
*Pictured: How artificial intelligence imagines "Immersive audio waves."*