An engineer proposes a new model for the way humans localize sounds

One of the enduring puzzles of hearing loss is the decline in a person’s ability to determine where a sound originates, a key survival faculty that allows animals—from lizards to humans—to pinpoint the location of danger, prey and group members. In modern times, finding a lost cell phone by using the application “Find My Device,” just to find it had slipped under a sofa pillow, relies on minute differences in the ringing sound that reaches the ears.