Headphone localization of speech

Abstract

Three-dimensional acoustic display systems have recently been developed that synthesize virtual sound sources over headphones based on filtering by head-related transfer functions (HRTFs), the direction-dependent spectral changes caused primarily by the pinnae. In this study 11 inexperienced subjects judged the apparent spatial location of headphone-presented speech stimuli filtered with non-individualized HRTFs. About half of the subjects "pulled" their judgments toward either the median or the lateral-vertical planes, and estimates were almost always elevated. Individual differences were pronounced for the distance judgments; 15% to 46% of stimuli were heard inside the head, with the shortest estimates near the median plane. The results suggest that most listeners can obtain useful azimuth information from speech stimuli filtered by nonindividualized HRTFs. Measurements of localization error and reversal rates are comparable with a previous study that used broadband noise stimuli.