Surround sound

Surround sound is a multichannel and multiloundspeaker audio setup and discipline whereby the objective is to recreate the 3D sphere of human hearing by having more than two channels of audio information presented in a manner that encircles the audience. The audio material transmitted can then utilize panning and placement effects encompassing all channels. This is in contrast to the stereo presentation of sound which only uses two channels of audio information, or mono which only uses one.

The three-dimensional (3D) sphere of human hearing can be virtually achieved with audio channels above and below the listener. To that end, the multichannel surround sound application encircles the audience (left-surround, right-surround, back-surround), as opposed to "screen channels" (center, [front] left, and [front] right), i.e. ca. 360° horizontal plane, 2D).