Nearly nine hundred people participated in a binaural sound localisation experiment during a science exhibition. The aim of the experiment was to investigate subjects’ localisation performance in an informal setting and with little training, which, in comparison to formal listening experiments, are conditions more similar to those encountered in consumer applications of binaural audio. The subjects wore headphones while standing on a rotating platform. Their task was to rotate the platform until a sound source auralised through the headphones was perceived to be in front of them. The test was carried out using different head related transfer function (HRTF) datasets, programme material, and virtual acoustical conditions. An analysis of the data shows that (a) more than half of the subjects could localise the sound source with less than 7.5 degrees of error, (b) twelve percent of the subjects experienced a front/back reversal, (c) by selecting measured HRTFs randomly from one of two datasets, the KEMAR measurement resulted in a larger localisation error than the chosen measurement from the CIPIC database.

Authors: De Sena, Enzo; Kaplanis, Neofytos; Naylor, Patrick A.; van Waterschoot, Toon
Affiliations: Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark; Imperial College London, London, UK; KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; KU Leuven, Geel, Belgium; Bang & Olufsen, Struer, Denmark(See document for exact affiliation information.)
AES Conference: 60th International Conference: DREAMS (Dereverberation and Reverberation of Audio, Music, and Speech) (January 2016)
Paper Number: 2-5
Publication Date: January 27, 2016 Import into BibTeX
Subject: Paper Session 2
Permalink: https://www.aes.org/e-lib/browse.cfm?elib=18069

Click to purchase paper as a non-member or login as an AES member. If your company or school subscribes to the E-Library then switch to the institutional version. If you are not an AES member and would like to subscribe to the E-Library then Join the AES!

This paper costs $33 for non-members and is free for AES members and E-Library subscribers.

Learn more about the AES E-Library

E-Library Location: (CD 60thPapers)   /conf/60/aes60-000036.pdf

Start a discussion about this paper!