DirectSound
A set of Windows interfaces from Microsoft for programming sounds. Gaming developers write to the DirectSound APIs, and the manufacturers of sound cards write DirectSound drivers to be included with their hardware. DirectSound3D simulates sounds coming from different directions. DirectSound is part of Microsoft's DirectX family. See EAX, OpenAL and See DirectX.
Windows Interfaces
Windows has several sound interfaces that applications are written to. (Illustrations courtesy of Creative Labs.)