On the externalization of virtual sound images in headphone reproduction: a Wiener filter approach

In-head localization of sound images is a critical problem in headphone reproduction. The paper investigates the degree of externalization in terms of the distance of auditory images for various synthesis and reproduction cases. An effective binaural headphone system was constructed by way of binaural synthesis using head-related impulse responses and individual headphone equalization using Wiener filter theory. The headphone system designed had an average reproduction performance error of 2.4% for five subjects with a random noise input, and was used to perform some subjective tests with a set of virtual sources equally spaced and distanced from the center of each subject's head in the horizontal plane. The effects of individual and nonindividual binaural syntheses and those of equalized and nonequalized reproductions were separately investigated. In the tests, each subject was instructed to indicate the distance of auditory images. The results obtained demonstrate that individual equalization is important for externalization, and individual synthesis is important for consistent distance perception. Thus, a combined use of both individual equalization and individual synthesis resulted in externalized sound images of a consistent distance.