Consumer Guide to Headphones and Headsets

Dolby

What are Dolby Headphones?

What are the benefits of Dolby Headphones?

Dolby Headphone in stereo mode.

What do you need to use Dolby Headphone?

What are Dolby Headphones?

The Dolby Headphone™ like the headphones mentioned above is a newer technology that produces a sound much like a home theater surround system would. This technology does this through a traditional set of headphones. This new technology works with multichannel sources, including Dolby DVD or videodiscs, surround sound Pro­Logic technology or even VHS tapes.

Using this technology you can convert any multichannel source of audio into a sound track. The technology works by tricking you into thinking you are listening to a multiple channel surround sound system. Much like a 3­D movie, this system tricks the body into thinking it is hearing 3 dimensional sound.

What are the benefits of Dolby Headphones?

Many headphones result in fatigue. Listening to a traditional set of stereos speakers is much different from listening to a headset.

Usually when you hear music from a set of traditional speaker, you hear sounds from both the speaker and those reflected from nearby surfaces. Thus you receive direct and indirect sounds that help your brain judge where the speakers are and how big a space they are projecting in. Most people are able to hear sounds that come from a soundstage in front of them and sound that bounces of walls and other planes when music comes from a set of loudspeakers.

This three­dimensional sound seems rich and high quality.

The sound you hear from a home theater system is slightly different. You get more sound quality and dimension when using surround sound loudspeakers as part of a home theater unit. These systems typically provide the user with an impression that they are standing amid a great sound wave. They make you feel for example like you are part of a movie because the sound is so intense. Sound comes from several different directions when you use a home theater system, including the front, sides and back of a room.

Traditional headsets feed sounds direct into the ear canal. Thus, the user hears the same sound fed from both ears. Many people interpret the music produced from headphones as coming from direct inside the head. This effect is unnatural, and can result in listening fatigue. Too much listening causes the brain to shut down. The brain tires from believing that it is ‘producing’ music because it isn’t able to pinpoint where sounds are coming from. When you use loudspeakers it is much easier to pinpoint where sounds come from.

Dolby headphones help remove this problem. They produce an effect that is similar to listening to music about the room rather than listening to music that is all inside the head. This allows listeners to listen to music for longer periods of time without experiencing fatigue.

Dolby Headphone in stereo mode.

Dolby headphones also provide a stereo mode option. This headphone gives the listener the impression that they are listening to a performance of live musicians, where music comes from many different directions. The effects are similar to a 2­channel stereo speaker system.

What do you need to use Dolby Headphone?

If you want to use a Dolby Headphone you will need at the minimum a decoder and a pre­encoded sound track. Let­s talk more about these features.

• Dolby Headphone decoder: Most people take advantage of Dolby technology by burying headphones with an A/V receiver, DVD player or video machine or as part of a computer, game console or other media device. Software is available that provides Dolby sound track to the headphones, including CinePlayer 1.5 through Sonic.
• Dolby Headphone pre­encoded sound track: This is the easiest way to take advantage of Dolby headphone technology. The pre­encoded sound track uses a DVD­video title that allows you to plug-in your headphones and selects the Dolby Headphone track from your DVD menu. You can use any headphones, however the better quality headphones you have the more likely you are to enjoy the sound. Fortunately you don’t need to buy unique hardware or a decoder because the Dolby headphone processing technology is already implanted as a special sound track.

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