Entering the ear

Sound that is generated in the virtual world must be transmitted to each ear in the physical world. It is as if a virtual microphone positioned in the virtual world captures the simulated sound waves. These are then converted into audio output through a speaker that is positioned in front of the ear. Recall from Section 11.3 that humans are able to localize sound sources from auditory cues. How would this occur for VR if all of the sound emanates from a fixed speaker? The ILD and ITD cues could be simulated by ensuring that each ear receives the appropriate sound magnitude and phase to that differences in amplitude and timing are correct. This implies that the physical head must be reproduced at some level of detail in the virtual world so that these differences are correctly calculated. For example, the distance between the ears and size of the head may become important.