This paper presents a study on the use of bone conduction headphones (BCHs) as an alternative device for augmented (AR) and mixed (MR) reality scenarios, as they have the advantage of keeping the user in contact with the real acoustic environment since their ears are unobstructed. Experiments regarding localization accuracy were conducted using different Head-Related Transfer Functions (HRTFs), including individualized simulated ones, and with a set of transducers comprising two different models of BCHs and a regular pair of air conduction headphones (ACHs). In terms of azimuth localization accuracy, BCHs do not appear to differ significantly from ACHs, but numerically simulated individual HRTFs are preferable over generic HRTFs and simplified individual HRTFs. With respect to elevation localization accuracy, BCHs that transmit signals well in the higher frequency range are necessary to achieve similar results to ACHs.

Authors: Tray, Minh Voong; do V.M. da Costa, Maurício; Regener, Marlon; Reuter, Christoph; Oehler, Michael
Affiliations: Osnabrück University, Germany; University of Vienna, Austria(See document for exact affiliation information.)
AES Conference: 2022 AES International Conference on Audio for Virtual and Augmented Reality (August 2022)
Paper Number: 17
Publication Date: August 15, 2022 Import into BibTeX
Subject: Paper
Permalink: http://www.aes.org/e-lib/browse.cfm?elib=21847

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