Can anyone explain this mystery about sound perception? Say I'm sitting at home with a window to the side in front of me and my back to a wall. (1/4)
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Now suppose someone starts making noise outside behind me. (2/4)
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Why does it still "sound" like the noise is coming from behind me? How does my sensory system figure out the true origin even though the wall blocks like 90% of the sound? (3/4)
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The only ideas I have are:
1. My brain notices that the (quiet) noise through the wall comes earlier, and thus assumes that's the correct direction.
2. My high-level knowledge about the situation somehow propagates down to my low-level sensory perceptions. (4/4)
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Not an expert but it seems like idea (1) is essentially correct (and this effect is used in audio engineering!):