Single speaker unit creates surround sound

November 13, 2003 | Source: NewScientist.com news service

A home theatre system that produces surround sound using a single speaker unit has been unveiled.

Nirotek’s DVD player, the NIRO 1.1 PRO, achieves the same effect with five individual speakers packed horizontally into a single case. To achieve the surround sound effect, an on-board computer manipulates the signal to each speaker using head related transfer functions that mimic the effects used by the brain to identify the direction a sound is coming from.