Headphones sound ‘in the head’ because they fail to model head movement cues
Evidence
This movement cue is one of the reasons we perceive the sound from headphones as being “in the head.” Because the sound source tracks our head movement, it cannot be outside and hence must be in the head. … Experiments with headphone listening that correctly model the head and keep the source direction constant as the head moves give a much more convincing illusion. — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 735
Categorization
- XREF: Explains a familiar everyday experience (headphone listening) — useful to any reader puzzling over why headphones feel internal. — connects to: Headphone binaural reproduction fails without dynamic head-movement cues — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 1920; Lack of head-tracking dynamic cues causes headphone audio to sound internalized; Head movement resolves directional ambiguity and explains headphone sounds seeming internal — Toole, Floyd E, Sound reproduction- the acoustics and…, 290 (+6 more)
- SEED: The ‘in the head’ headphone phenomenon is a striking everyday anchor for a general-audience essay on how the brain locates sound.
Broader Connections
- Headphone binaural reproduction fails without dynamic head-movement cues
#corroborates(1.00) — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 1920 - Lack of head-tracking dynamic cues causes headphone audio to sound internalized
#corroborates(1.00) - Binaural audio without visuals and head tracking stays internalized in the head
#corroborates(0.98) — Toole, Floyd E, Sound reproduction- the acoustics and…, 301 - Static binaural images sound inside the head until head movement is tracked
#corroborates(0.97) - Head movement resolves directional ambiguity and explains headphone sounds seeming internal
#corroborates(0.92) — Toole, Floyd E, Sound reproduction- the acoustics and…, 290 - Headphone audio internalizes because static binaural cues signal an inside-the-head source
#contradicts(0.80) — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 1461 - Headphone reproduction lacks the spatial cues loudspeakers in rooms provide
#expands(0.75) — Toole, Floyd E, Sound reproduction- the acoustics and…, 1666 - Binaural recordings must be headphone-based because cross-ear coupling destroys the illusion
#expands(0.72) - Early binaural headphone studies localized sounds inside the head rather than externally.
#exemplifies(0.72) — Toole, Floyd E, Sound reproduction- the acoustics and…, 63