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Audio Engineering7 min read

The Science of Spatial Audio: Beyond Stereo

February 28, 2025

For decades, we've been listening to music flattened into two channels: Left and Right. But the real world isn't stereo. It's spherical. Enter Spatial Audio.

How HRTF Works

Head-Related Transfer Functions (HRTF) are mathematical algorithms that simulate how sound waves interact with your ears, head, and shoulders. By altering the timing and frequency of a sound by milliseconds, we can trick your brain into perceiving sound location with pinpoint accuracy.

Object-Based Audio

Unlike channel-based audio (5.1 or 7.1), which sends sound to specific speakers, object-based audio (like Dolby Atmos) treats sounds as "objects" in 3D space. A guitar isn't "in the left speaker"; it's "3 feet to your left and 2 feet up."

VxMusic's Implementation

We are experimenting with a new binaural rendering engine that works with any pair of headphones. No special hardware required. This feature utilizes the device's gyroscope to anchor the soundstage in front of you, even when you turn your head.