'This' was a touch screen controller with several big headphone sets coming off it. The researcher explained that the sounds they would hear had been recorded from microphones set in a mannequin's ears, such that the head of the mannequin had acted like a human head, in terms how the sound resonates, so that it sounded much more 'real' (with more depth) rather than a recording. There were four options to listen to:
A clarinet playing, which sounded as though it was in the room.
A person speaking as they were walking around, which A described as being 'more surround sound than the best surround sound telly'.
A person speaking, you first heard just part of the frequency range and couldn't understand what was being said, then you heard the same thing again but with the full range, before hearing the first part again and the second time, once you knew what you were listening for, you could understand it reasonably well. The researcher explained that you could train your brain to understand less than clear speech, and as A understood it, this could be useful in understanding people with severe speech impediments.
The fourth option was what the researcher described as the auditory equivalent of this image by Escher, with ever rising pitch.
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