Interaural time difference and how to find your phone instantly

2019-03-28

[public] 465K views, 30.5K likes, 242 dislikes audio only

Steve Mould

The first 500 people to use this link will get a 2 month free trial of Skillshare premium:

https://skl.sh/stevemould2

You can grab the white noise ringtone here:

https://stevemould.com/white_noise_ringtone.mp3

OR, thanks to Musician Vahakn Matossian, you can use these lovely tones:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1VO5_DC8foNEHerITApTDdFuAsIUgGN1r

The science of sound localization is really interesting. This video is specifically about interaural time difference and how mobile phone ringtones are badly designed for the way our brains detect sound direction. You can make you phone easier to find by changing the ringtone to white noise. Also, emergency vehicle sirens like ambulances are badly designed for the same reason.

The Tom Scott video I mentioned about reversing trucks is here:

/youtube/video/fa28lIGuxq8

How to set a custom ringtone on android:

https://www.androidcentral.com/adding-custom-ringtones-and-sounds-your-android#own

How to set a custom ringtone in iPhone:

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT207955

How to set a custom ringtone on Windows Phone:

Thanks to these amazing patrons on Patreon for supporting my channel:

Glenn Watson

Joël van der Loo

The Great Tit sounds are from the British Library:

https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/great-tit-parus-major-alarm-call