With the large number of headphones now in use, a preponderance of recorded music mixed with loudspeakers is experienced while listening with headphones. It is well known that the headphone experience creates a difference in spatial perception due to the fact that the crosstalk normally associated with loudspeaker listening is eliminated, resulting in a widening of the perceived sound stage. In addition to this difference, a question arises as to changes in the perceived tonal balance that may occur with the removal of acoustic crosstalk. This paper presents a method of measuring such differences based on a series of near field binaural mannequin recordings for which the spectral influence of crosstalk is determined. Measurement data is presented as to the findings of this investigation. Results suggest that headphones designed to sound well balanced for most popular music benefit from a low frequency boost in frequency response, whereas headphones designed primarily for classical listening require less boost.
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