Is it possible to induce hallucinations with sound, is there 8D music, how can you listen to music without headphones and speakers: we talk about the latest technologies in the music industry and how they are changing the way we listen to music.

In 2019, a new trend appeared on the vastness of YouTube video hosting - 8D audio. The channel creators that create this "8D" sound claim that they are taking sound quality to a whole new level with the latest technology. The enthusiastic commentary suggests that it is as easy to manipulate an uninformed public today as it was in the 1960s, when the illusion of stereo was presented as something far beyond the technology of the day.


In fact, the "8D" sound is the result of using the simplest technologies that have been familiar to us since the golden age of rock and roll. Moreover, due to additional amateur adaptations, the songs in "8D" lose significantly in quality, but the listeners still continue to be amazed, because, in their opinion, "you listen, and it's as if Freddie Mercury is singing in your room!"

Real breakthroughs, as is usually the case, go unnoticed until marketers take on them. However, by that time they no longer produce the "wah effect" that trends like "8D audio" previously produced, as the listener expects that there will be a catch this time too.

This is exactly what happened with speakerless audio technologies. Bone conduction headphones and car audio systems that transmit sound through vibrations allow us to listen to music in the cabin without significant risk to hearing, they are safer for listening on the road, and the sound quality with such technologies is potentially much higher than conventional headphones and audio systems.

Continental Corporation develops audio systems with which each passenger can listen to their personal music at full volume, without disturbing other motorists, even with open windows.

The same projects are being developed for home audio systems, but since mega-corporations like Apple are still interested in them, we will have to wait for brands to bring these systems to mind.

Gadgets such as Subpac and Basslet can be said to complement the above technologies. As you know, at large concerts, the effect of the performance is enhanced by physically felt vibrations that are created by musical instruments or speakers. The Subpac is a backpack that mimics these vibrations, giving the illusion of being at a massive concert, while the Basslet is its more compact bracelet version.

In addition to the music industry, gadgets can also be used in video games and movies in conjunction with VR glasses, creating a somewhat frightening immersive effect.

However, today the giants of the music industry are more interested in the media through which we get access to music than in the ways of transmitting sound. We are told that streaming services are the future of music and that they will completely replace analogue media in the next 20 years. But against this background, the demand for seemingly archaic vinyl records is sharply increasing : many musicians release their albums exclusively on vinyl, and its sales jump to the level of thirty years ago, when gramophone records still coexisted with audiocassettes.

All this suggests that it is important for the modern listener to have a physical copy of his favorite music. Besides, as it turned out, streaming services are much more harmful to the environment than, say, the same cassettes or vinyl records.

But the first vinyl record was born almost 90 years ago, which means that despite all the advantages of vinyl, we are still dealing with a dinosaur of music technology and better and cheaper alternatives should be introduced to the market.

Such an alternative could have been the Super Audio CD format, presented by Sony and Philips, but at that time the technology was too expensive and could not gain popularity. There have also been attempts to sell ultra-high quality audio recorded on conventional chips for smartphones, but they have not been able to compete with vinyl. Apparently, in the near future, vinyl will not give up , but new technologies will help it become environmentally friendly, because, as you know, vinyl is a very toxic material.

Long before "8D" sound we were surprised by another similar trend - "audio drugs with binaural sound". Unlike the former, for "audio drugs" the scammers demanded money from the listeners and therefore the services were successfully blocked . According to the "audio drug barons", their programs could cause hallucinations in listeners thanks to binaural waves. In reality, binaural sound can indeed have an effect on the psyche of people, but it is far from being so strong as to cause hallucinations.

Today music with binaural effects is used therapeutically to help you fall asleep or concentrate, but its effect is hardly very different from coffee or valerian. There is a separate discipline for studying the psychological phenomena associated with the perception of sound, called "psychoacoustics" and so far researchers have not found anything in binaural waves that could cause hallucinations. The closest thing to "audio drugs" today is the aforementioned combination of SubPac tactile audio systems with virtual reality.

For example, artists can create interactive clips that combine auditory associations with visual and tactile counterparts: listening to percussion, we can see raindrops and simultaneously feel them all over our body. How much music it is and how much a home attraction is up to you, but the trend towards "clip" perception of music has existed for several years.

If we compare today's music industry with what we had in the pre-digital era, then in all respects we have made great strides forward. Tactile technology alone gives us a whole new field to explore this previously ignored aspect of music.

Despite this, judging by the fact that a huge number of music lovers still do not see the difference between stereo effects of half a century ago and a revolutionary breakthrough, taking for the latter something with a "high-tech" name "8D" suggests that people are not primarily important for quality, manufacturability or detail of music, and its melody, rhythm and other compositional components.

If you have doubts or wanna investigate more on this information about 8D Sound and Music, Feel Free to Check the References below.

References

https://www.standard.co.uk/tech/8d-audio-wh...h-a4401861.html
https://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/what-is-8d-audio/
https://www.quora.com/Is-8D-audio-dangerous
https://bazedon.com/music-entertainment-portal-importance


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I dont like 8D. stereo is enough since we only have 2 ears. Bone induction is extra add on to sound spectrum. Hear 8d music is really annoying to me. The sound keep moving. Same to singer & the instrument.

8D is only nice for electronic music

for music with vocals will sound like singer is singing around me for 3 minutes..

8D is fine but like you said they exaggerate too much. Especially on things that shouldn't move.
Wish got more ppl invest on binaural recording although it won't work well on speakers