The Impact of an Accurate Vertical Localization with HRTFs on Short Explorations of Immersive Virtual Reality Scenarios

Abstract

Achieving a full 3D auditory experience with head-related transfer functions (HRTFs) is still one of the main challenges of spatial audio rendering. HRTFs capture the listener's acoustic effects and personal perception, allowing immersion in virtual reality (VR) applications. This paper aims to investigate the connection between listener sensitivity in vertical localization cues and experienced presence, spatial audio quality, and attention. Two VR experiments with head-mounted display (HMD) and animated visual avatar are proposed: (i) a screening test aiming to evaluate the participants' localization performance with HRTFs for a non-visible spatialized audio source, and (ii) a 2 minute free exploration of a VR scene with five audiovisual sources in a both non-spatialized (2D stereo panning) and spatialized (free-field HRTF rendering) listening conditions. The screening test allows a distinction between good and bad localizers. The second one shows that no biases are introduced in the quality of the experience (QoE) due to different audio rendering methods; more interestingly, good localizers perceive a lower audio latency and they are less involved in the visual aspects.

Assessing the Impact of Head-Related Transfer Function Individualization on Task Performance: Case of a Virtual Reality Shooter Game

“…A similar observation can be made regarding HRTF stability and the observation that Groups BB and WW did not benefit from a consistent use of a given HRTF compared to Groups BW and WB, who alternated HRTFs. Additionally, Groups BW and WB did not perceive the change in HRTF between S1 and S2, a result similar to that reported in [11]. Overall, these results do not provide a strong argument in favor of the need for HRTF spectral cue individualization for the given task at hand (i.e., an immersive audio-visual interaction game in which audio rapidly steers attention outside of FOV events).…”

“…Previous research has been conducted on the impact of HRTF individualization on task performance in casual VR applications. [11] studied for example the impact of the audio rendering condition on the "Quality of Experience" as judged by participants after short VR scene explorations. Experiencing the scenes with either stereo, "generic" HRTF, or individualized HRTF audio rendering, participants rated their experience in terms of immersion, naturalness, externalization, etc.…”

"When the Elephant Trumps"

“…Furthermore, the inclusion of population with mostly no musical experience (either playing or producing) is beneficial since results will not be biased towards participants with an experienced hearing ability resulting from musical training. Additionally, we acknowledge that some participants might better at sound localizing [16] but we were not aware of any pre-screening protocols at the time of the study.…”

Auditory Feedback for Navigation with Echoes in Virtual Environments: Training Procedure and Orientation Strategies

“…Non-musicians might also perform relatively well if their spatial orientation in regards to spatial cognitive maps is better developed than musicians. The participants' previous experience with spatial audio technologies, their localization accuracy with non-individual HRTFs [18], their sensitivity to spectral shape [3], or the connection with body/head movements in embodied cognition [41] should be carefully considered in a complete user characterization.…”