Scientists have created a 3D audio dome with speakers so high-fidelity that they trick your ears into thinking you're right at the source of the sound.

AudioDome creates a sound space that is indistinguishable from the real thing to the human ear. (Image credit: sonible GmbH)

Researchers in Canada have developed a speaker array that can reproduce a three-dimensional soundscape with such precision that the human ear perceives it as real sound.

The 11-foot-long (3.4-meter) AudioDome acoustic system, housed in a sealed chamber in Ontario, uses advanced audio rendering techniques to create rich virtual soundscapes that accurately reproduce the location of sounds at the moment they were recorded, allowing users to be transported anywhere on the planet.

In a recent study, the researchers tested the speaker system on humans to assess its accuracy. The results showed that AudioDome was capable of reproducing soundscapes with a level of detail beyond the capabilities of human hearing. The researchers published their findings April 15 in The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.