BBC Focus Magazine

[scott fairbrass]

how when a sound is made do we know what direction it as come from?

[Shadowwolf]

Take a noise to your right, you know it has emanated from there because the sound wave reaches one ear markedly before the other. Your brain processes the wave to render it intelligible and also the direction from whence it came. This becomes troublesome when sources are moving and waves are bouncing off structures or traveling through objects like walls.

[scott fairbrass]

so what if the sound is directly in front of you? the sound will shurly hit both ears at the same time, so how does the brain decide if the sound was in front or from behind?

[M Paul Lloyd]

I think that has something to do with the shape of the ear Scott, which gives us a degree of directional hearing...... although I'm unsure as to the actual mechanism involved. Sorry. But I'll see if I can look it up.

[Shadowwolf]

That and the waves traveling from front to back or vice versa, fast but slow enough to allow the brain to discriminate and enable a rough positioning.

[MikeG]

The folds of the ear lobe are responsible for helping eliminate echoes, and to help pinpoint the direction of sounds.