As these things are wont to do, Binaural radio popped up in my mind, and I wondered if anyone else remembers it?
Binaural is a technique of recording a stereo signal with two microphones inside the ears of a dummy human head. The natural curves of the ear and face are reproduced in the dummy, and the result is that the recording, when played back on headphones, can give a convinscing "surround" effect, reproducing the natural direction of the recorded sounds.
Sounds no longer pan left to right within your head (as with usual headphone listening) but are well outside the headphones, and can appear to be in front of, or behind you. The sound is positionally reproduced without electronic processing (eg "virtual surround" systems)
In the 1970's and into the 1980's, BBC Radio had a number of programmes (usually plays) recorded in binaural, and the Radio Times would note that you must listen on stereo headphones for the effect to work. I can remember trying out a new, cheap, stereo radio with headphones on Christmas Day in the 1980's, and happened to tune into a binaural play. There was a voice shouting out to my right, well outside of my headphones, that made me leap out of my chair.
Wikipedia lists a number of problems with the system, but my few experiences of it was that it was very good.
Does anyone else remember it?
Ian