Conference Paper
HeRMeS: An automated headphone repositioning and measurement system
2025 AES International Conference on Headphone Technology · Paper 5 · August 2025
Abstract
In headphone measurements, the exact placement of headphones on a listeners head is typically considered to be a source of uncertainty and a single result is generally desired. Variability in headphone transfer functions due to headphone repositioning as well as individual differences between listeners is a well known phenomenon affecting the quality of headphone reproduction, e. g. by altering spatial cues in binaural rendering or modifying the frequency response resulting from headphone equalization filters. In order to enable systematic studies on the effects of headphone placement, the headphone repositioning and measurement system (HeRMeS) is introduced and evaluated in this paper. An exemplary analysis of common effects of headphone repositioning and clamping force is undertaken for a closed-back and an open-back headphone model, validating the systems efficacy in performing the desired measurements and comparing it to a standard headphone measurement fixture.
