Sound immersion in all ears

Connected news 19.02.2021

Do you know theHyperradio?

Since 2017, the Maison de la Radio website has been home to a digital laboratory designed to introduce the general public to the immense capabilities of binaural sound, a technique that restores the natural hearing of sound, in three dimensions. Its name? hyperradio.radiofrance.fr

The rustling of leaves and birdsong above our heads, the crackling of branches under our footsteps during a walk in the forest, a car coming up behind us, a dog barking on the side: we hear in three dimensions because our auditory system locates and analyzes the sound sources. And it is not only our ears that are involved, but also all the rough edges of our skull: chin, cheekbones, forehead, nose, eyes... The sound information is transmitted to the brain to situate the sound in space, as precisely as possible.

Beyond stereo, sound in 3 dimensions

Traditionally, however, recordings are made in stereophony. The sound space thus recreated is located between two speakers. The stereo system cannot reproduce the finesse of sound perception of the human ear. Since the 1990s, however, institutions and engineers have been interested in developing new sound recording and post-production techniques that can reproduce a three-dimensional sound space, comparable to natural listening: this technique is called binaural or "3D sound" and Radio France has made it a real specialty. At the forefront of research in this field, the digital department of the Maison Ronde is experimenting with new sound formats in its studios. What the general public does not know is that the results of this research are available on the Hyperradio website: there you can find concerts, documentaries and sound journeys designed to be listened to in 360 degrees... with headphones! 

Alessandro Bosetti and Carol Robinson - Logbook, 2018

From binaural listening to immersive concerts

These new modes of listening, which are very open to creation, have an important place among composers and students of composition, jazz, and improvised music at higher music conservatories, such as the CNSMD in Paris. They also offer the listener an easier way to listen to musical works, because they are totally immersive. The concert thus becomes a completely physical experience. Indeed, what is extraordinary about this technique is the immersion it creates, which opens up an immense field of possibilities for its use. 

On air!

Equivalent to "on the air", in radio language, "On air" is the latest creation by Basile Chassaing, young composer laureate of theAcadémie Voix Nouvelles at Royaumont in 2019, performed by the ensemble 2e2m, with whom he has forged strong ties around several creations. "On air" features a quintet of spatialized brass instruments, scattered around the Radio France studio stage.

Suzanne Gervais

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