DIY in-ear binaural recording yields convincing spatial reproduction

Evidence

The basic binaural recording technique is to reproduce a recorded binaural sound track through headphones. The recording is made by inserting miniature microphones in the ear canals of a real human listener, or by using a manikin with microphones in the ears (Blauert, 1996; Wilska, 1938). Such a recording is reproduced by playing the recorded signals to the ears of the listener. In principle, this is a very simple technique and can provide effective results. A simple implementation is to replace the transducers of in-ear headphones with miniature microphones, use a portable audio recorder to record the sounds of the surroundings, and play back the sound with headphones. Without any further processing, a convincing spatial effect is already achieved, as the left–right directions of the sound sources and the reverberant sound field are reproduced naturally. If the person who did the recording is the listener, the effect can be particularly striking. — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 1918

Categorization

• SEED: A cheap practical how-to: replacing headphone drivers with microphones to make binaural recordings — an engaging hands-on application angle.
• XREF: Connects to ASMR and binaural video communities that trade on exactly this diy in-ear recording effect.