Benchmarking Spatial Audio Reproduction Systems in Smart Glasses and XR Headsets: An Application-Driven Measurement Framework

Wu Y, Treanor G, Roginska A. Benchmarking Spatial Audio Reproduction Systems in Smart Glasses and XR Headsets: An Application-Driven Measurement Framework. In: AVARIG 2026: Audio for Virtual and Augmented Reality and Immersive Games. Audio Engineering Society; 2026. Paper 10347. Available from: https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=23309

@inproceedings{Wu2026_23309,
  author = {Wu, Yi and Treanor, Garrett and Roginska, Agnieszka},
  title = {{Benchmarking Spatial Audio Reproduction Systems in Smart Glasses and XR Headsets: An Application-Driven Measurement Framework}},
  booktitle = {AVARIG 2026: Audio for Virtual and Augmented Reality and Immersive Games},
  note = {Paper 10347},
  year = {2026},
  month = jun,
  publisher = {Audio Engineering Society},
  url = {https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=23309}
}

TY  - CPAPER
TI  - Benchmarking Spatial Audio Reproduction Systems in Smart Glasses and XR Headsets: An Application-Driven Measurement Framework
AU  - Wu, Yi
AU  - Treanor, Garrett
AU  - Roginska, Agnieszka
T2  - AVARIG 2026: Audio for Virtual and Augmented Reality and Immersive Games
M1  - Paper 10347
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/06/30
UR  - https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=23309
PB  - Audio Engineering Society
LA  - en
AB  - This paper presents an application-driven objective measurement framework for benchmarking spatial audio reproduction in smart glasses and extended reality (XR) headsets. Wearable XR devices render virtual spatial audio while users simultaneously perceive the physical acoustic environment, creating evaluation challenges distinct from conventional headphone-based playback. Existing approaches are often inconsistent, focusing on limited device classes or metrics, and do not support unified cross-device benchmarking. The proposed framework derives benchmark attributes from two application dimensions: the acoustic role of the device and the usage context. Measurements are organized into four groups: baseline playback checks, cue fidelity, sound leakage, and robustness to wearing variability. The framework adopts a system-level methodology that characterizes observable device behavior without requiring access to proprietary internal parameters, enabling reproducible cross-device comparison. An illustrative application of the framework is presented in a companion paper [1].
ER  -