Quantitative Assessment of Acoustical Attributes and Listener Preferences in Binaural Renderers with Head-tracking Function

Sato R, Komkris P, Park Y, Kim S, Kim S. Quantitative Assessment of Acoustical Attributes and Listener Preferences in Binaural Renderers with Head-tracking Function. In: Express Paper. Audio Engineering Society; 2024. Paper 296. Available from: https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=22754

@inproceedings{Sato2024_22754,
  author = {Sato, Rai and Komkris, Palavat and Park, Yideun and Kim, Sungjoon and Kim, Sungyoung},
  title = {{Quantitative Assessment of Acoustical Attributes and Listener Preferences in Binaural Renderers with Head-tracking Function}},
  note = {Paper 296},
  year = {2024},
  month = sep,
  publisher = {Audio Engineering Society},
  url = {https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=22754}
}

TY  - CPAPER
TI  - Quantitative Assessment of Acoustical Attributes and Listener Preferences in Binaural Renderers with Head-tracking Function
AU  - Sato, Rai
AU  - Komkris, Palavat
AU  - Park, Yideun
AU  - Kim, Sungjoon
AU  - Kim, Sungyoung
M1  - Paper 296
PY  - 2024
DA  - 2024/09/27
UR  - https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=22754
PB  - Audio Engineering Society
LA  - en
AB  - The rapid advancement of immersive audio technologies has popularized binaural renderers that create 3D auditory experiences using head-related transfer functions (HRTFs). Various renderers with unique algorithms have emerged, offering head-tracking functionality for real-time adjustments to spatial audio perception. Building on our previous study, we compared binauralized music from five renderers with the dynamic head-tracking function enabled, focusing on how differences in HRTFs and algorithms affect listener perceptions. Participants assessed overall preference, spatial fidelity, and timbral fidelity by comparing paired stimuli. Consistent with our earlier findings, one renderer received the highest ratings for overall preference and spatial fidelity, while others rated lower in these attributes. Physical analysis showed that interaural time differences (ITD), interaural level differences (ILD), and frequency response variations contributed to these outcomes. Notably, hierarchical cluster analysis of participants timbral fidelity evaluations revealed two distinct groups, suggesting variability in individual sensitivities to timbral nuances. While spatial cues, enhanced by head tracking, were generally found to be more influential in determining overall preference, the results also highlight that timbral fidelity plays a significant role for certain listener groups, indicating that both spatial and timbral factors should be considered in future developments.
ER  -