Matt, your cites are interesting but I guess I’m missing something. How is the timing difference going to determine distance? I can see it being used to determine direction. But assume the sound is coming from a source at a forty five degree in front of and to your right. The difference in timing between your left and right ears will pick up the direction. But how will the timing be influenced by whether the sound is ten feet away or a hundred feet away? Wouldn’t the difference in timing between your ears will be the same regardless of how far the sound travels before reaching you?
It doesn’t, as far as I know. I was adding to the exchange between Blake and CurtC:
My second cite specifically indicates that this was a perfectly reasonable deduction. It just turns out to be untrue.
I would assume this might be true, but I’ll admit I don’t really know.
A real life example of this problem for me came one sleepless night when I was woken up by a high pitched whine that was coming from … somewhere. It wasn’t in my home. I checked all my appliances.
I assumed that in my apartment building that some vacant unit had an alarm clock in it and it was going off.
But that wasn’t it.
Eventually I realized that the sound was coming from a power line near my house. For some reason, the lines were giving off a whining sound. From my room, the noise was piercing, but it was less so when I was standing outside next to it.
And I can say that if the CIA wishes to use that sound as a form of torture on me, I will break very quickly.