Comparison of headphone- and loudspeaker-based concert hall auralizations

Abstract

In this research, a spherical microphone array and a dummy head were used to measure room impulse responses in a wide variety of concert and recital halls throughout New York State. Auralizations were created for both headphone playback and second-order ambisonic playback via a loudspeaker array. These two systems were first evaluated objectively to determine the level of accuracy with which they could reproduce the measured soundfields, particularly with respect to important binaural cues. Subjects were then recruited for listening tests conducted with both reproduction methods and asked to evaluate the different spaces based on specific parameters and overall subjective preference, and the results of the two playback methods were compared.