Shooting Down a Lost Drone and why Dogs Tilt their Heads - Smarter Every Day 173 | Summary and Q&A

TL;DR

Using directional hearing, the host and his son successfully locate a lost drone in the woods, but struggle with determining its height.

Key Insights

• 👂 Directional hearing is an essential skill for locating sounds accurately.
• 😌 Determining the vertical position of sounds relies on spectral cues.
• ⛑️ Dogs use temporal cues to compensate for their weaker spectral cues.
• ❓ The Sound Traveler is a YouTube channel that explores immersive 3D audio experiences with binaural audio.

Transcript

Hey, it's me Destin welcome back to Smarter Every Day I'm in the middle of the woods. My son lost a cheap little drone and the only way we can figure out where it's at is we are powering it up and listening to where it is, and it's really got me thinking about directional hearing. To bring you up to speed real quick, my sister bought my son a toy d... Read More

Questions & Answers

Q: How did the host and his son use directional hearing to find the lost drone?

The host and his son activated the drone and listened for its faint sound, then walked in the direction they thought it was coming from, repeating the process until they got closer to it.

Q: Why were they unable to determine the height of the drone using directional hearing?

Directional hearing primarily works in the horizontal plane, making it difficult to accurately determine vertical positions of sounds.

Q: What are spectral cues and how do they help determine vertical positions of sounds?

Spectral cues, based on frequency changes caused by sound bouncing off different parts of the ear, help the brain calculate the vertical position of a sound.

Q: Why do dogs tilt their heads sideways when they hear a sound?

Dogs tilt their heads to cheat and use temporal cues, which allow them to determine the vertical position of sounds.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• The host's son loses his toy drone in a large section of the forest, prompting them to use directional hearing to find it.

• With the help of directional hearing, the host and his son successfully triangulate the drone's location.

• Despite locating the drone horizontally, they struggle to determine its height due to the limitations of directional hearing.