Influence of Head Tracking on the Externalization of Auditory Events at Divergence between Synthesized and Listening Room Using a Binaural Headphone System

摘要

This contribution presents an investigation on the influence of head tracking on the perceived externalization of auditory events using a binaural headphone system. Recordings of individual binaural room impulse responses of a five channel loudspeaker setup in two acoustic different rooms are conducted. Test persons are divided into two groups, while for the first group the listening and synthesized rooms do match (convergence), they do not for the second group (divergence). Moving the head during listening is mandatory and controlled by the test procedure. Perceived externalization of auditory events is used as a quality feature. The analysis of the ratings confirms that head tracking increases perceived externalization. Furthermore, the room divergence effect can be confirmed. Significantly lower externalization is observed if a divergence between the resynthesized and listening room occurs. However, the results clearly show that the benefit of head tracking on externalization does not overcome the room divergence effect.