Psychoacoustics of height perception in 3D audio

Recently developed 3D audio loudspeaker formats employ the so-called “height” channels, utilizing loudspeakers in elevated positions as well as at the ear level. This gives rise to the need to capture and render a stereophonic sound image for the added height dimension. However, the perceptual mechanisms of horizontal and vertical stereophonies are fundamentally different. This chapter introduces some of the key psychoacoustic principles of vertical stereophony and discusses their practical implications on 3D panning, microphone technique, mixing and upmixing.