Head-related transfer function personalization based on spectral notch estimation with stereo images of pinna

Abstract

Three-dimensional (3-D) sound field reproduction systems such as surround sound reproduction systems are rapidly being developed in recent few years. However, these systems need a lot of space for the placement of loudspeakers. For this reason, a binaural system has been studied as one of the systems, which controls the sound image localization with the head-related transfer functions (HRTFs) and just by using only a headphones. However, the individual differences in body features would cause the variations of HRTFs which greatly affect the direction perception. For this reason, a method based on the spectral notch estimation from the pinna shape has been studied for the personalization of HRTFs. In this study, we propose a new method, in which the depth information used for the spectral notch estimation is measured with stereo images of the pinna. Two cameras are utilized together as a stereo camera to take the disparate stereo images so that we can use the disparity of them to measure the depth information of the pinna. As a result of an evaluation experiment, we could reduce the cost of actual measurement and the burden to the subjects by the proposed method.