Audio Lab
Experiments for your ears. Put headphones on for the 3D tests, since speakers can't place sound behind you.
1. Headphone check
Turn the volume down a little, then check each side plays from the right place.
Heard left on the right? Your headphones are on the wrong way round.
2. Where's the enemy?
A sound comes from one of eight directions. Point to where you think it was. Ten rounds.
Gunfire is louder than the other sounds. Turn your volume down first.
Press start, then listen.
3. Above or below?
A drone hovers in front of you, either above you, level with you or below you. Six rounds. This test always uses 3D audio, because basic stereo can't do height at all.
Press start, then listen.
Don't worry if this one feels like guessing. Your ears judge height from tiny changes that the shape of your outer ear makes to high sounds. The browser uses an average ear, which won't match yours exactly, so scoring around half is normal.
4. Round and round
Footsteps walk slowly in a circle around you. Switch between 3D audio and basic stereo while they walk, and listen to what happens as they pass behind you.
In basic stereo, front and behind sound exactly the same.
5. Speaker test
5. Speaker testHear the same track through budget, mid-range and hifi speakers, then take the blind test. Works on speakers or headphones.How this works, honestly
- 3D audio here uses your browser's built-in head model. It changes the timing and tone of the sound at each ear, the way your head and ears do in real life.
- It is based on an average head, so it works brilliantly for some people and less well for others. Front and behind are the hardest to tell apart, even in real life.
- Basic stereo only turns the left and right volume up and down. Games that only use stereo give you the same problem.
- It does not follow your head as you turn, and it needs headphones.
- The footsteps, gunfire and reloading are real recordings, recorded close up with no echo so the 3D effect stays sharp. The drone and the speaker test are made in your browser.
- Nothing is recorded from your microphone, and nothing is sent anywhere.
Sound credits
- Footsteps: footstep_concrete_walking_running_scuff by EricsSoundschmiede (CC0)
- Gunfire: M9_noisegate by DarkShroom (CC0)
- Reloading: Uzi submachine gun being reloaded while empty by serøutōnin (CC0)
- All from Freesound. Trimmed and levelled for Yuki Lab.