Fast Multipole Accelerated Boundary Elements for Numerical Computation of the Head Related Transfer Function

The numerical computation of head related transfer functions has been attempted by a number of researchers. However, the cost of the computations has meant that usually only low frequencies can be computed and further the computations take inordinately long times. Because of this, comparisons of the computations with measurements are also difficult. We present a fast multipole based iterative preconditioned Krylov solution of a boundary element formulation of the problem and use a new formulation that enables the reciprocity technique to be accurately employed. This allows the calculation to proceed for higher frequencies and larger discretizations. Preliminary results of the computations and of comparisons with measured HRTFs are presented.