diff --git a/simgear/sound/sample_openal.cxx b/simgear/sound/sample_openal.cxx
index 08eec611..db7cd465 100644
--- a/simgear/sound/sample_openal.cxx
+++ b/simgear/sound/sample_openal.cxx
@@ -197,9 +197,10 @@ SGSoundSample::~SGSoundSample() {
 
 void SGSoundSample::update_pos_and_orientation() {
 
-    	// position is in basic view, no need to rotate
-    	// (proper alignment is set in xmlsound)
-    _absolute_pos = _base_pos + _relative_pos;
+    _absolute_pos = _base_pos;
+    if (_relative_pos[0] || _relative_pos[1] || _relative_pos[2] ) {
+       _absolute_pos += _rotation.rotate( _relative_pos );
+    }
 
     _orivec = SGVec3f::zeros();
     if ( _direction[0] || _direction[1] || _direction[2] ) {