He proposed that the sound amplitude (loudness) difference between the two ears was the cue used for sound localization. When a sound comes from the speaker, how can you identify its location so accurately? In the 1790s, Venturi played a flute around people and asked them to point in his direction. Imagine there is a circle that makes a perfectly flat plane around your head, as shown below. Neuroscientists have been working to understand the mechanisms of sound localization for many years, and they have identified two cues that are essential for sound localization in the horizontal dimension. Humans can locate the source of a sound with extreme precision (within 2 degrees of space)! This remarkable feat is accomplished by the brain’s ability to interpret the information from both ears. In the classic swimming pool game of “Marco Polo,” the player who is “it” swims toward the players who says “Polo.” In the field of neuroscience, this ability is called sound localization.

When driving, you can tell where an approaching fire truck is coming from and pull over accordingly. The brain has an amazing ability to identify the source of sounds around you.

Where is the sound coming from