Natural Science Puzzler

Human beings (and most animals) can detect the direction from which sound arrives. Close your eyes and have a friend quietly walk away from you in some undisclosed direction. When they speak, point at them. Open your eyes and see how well you did. How does this work? Consider the following information:

• When the source of sound is directly in front or in back of your head, you will reflexively turn your head slightly to listen again. Try this with your friend(s).
• It is more difficult to detect the direction of low frequencies than middle and high frequencies. (This is why the location of the woofer in a satellite speaker system is unimportant to stereo sound imaging. The location of the mid/high range satellites are important.)
• Underwater, we consistently perceive sound sources to come more from the front (or back) than they actually do.

  Of course, you can find the answer to this in the library. But try to figure it out on your own from the clues. If you are stymied, it's ok to consult a text.

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