Virtual Audio System Customization Using Visual Matching of Ear Parameters

Applications in the creation of virtual auditory spaces (VAS) and sonification require individualized head related transfer functions (HRTFs) for perceptual fidelity. HRTFs exhibit significant variation from person to person due to differences between their pinnae, and their body sizes. In this paper we propose and preliminarily implement a simple HRTF customization based on use of a recently published database of HRTFs [1] that also contains geometrical measurements of subject pinnae. We measure some of these features via simple image processing, and select the HRTF that has features most closely corresponding to the individual’s features. This selection procedure is implemented along with the virtual auditory system described in [2], and listener tests conducted comparing the “customized” HRTF and a fixed HRTF. Despite the simplicity of the method, tests reveal average improvement in localization accuracy of about 25 percent, though performance improvement varies with sour...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2002
• Where: ICPR
• Authors: Dmitry N. Zotkin, Ramani Duraiswami, Larry S. Davis, Ankur Mohan, Vikas C. Raykar
• Keywords: Head Related Transfer Function, ICPR 2002, Simple Hrtf Customization, Virtual Auditory