Development of dynamic transaural reproduction system using non-contact head tracking

A virtual auditory space can be presented to a listener by synthesizing binaural signals with head-related transfer functions and reproducing the signals at listener´s ears. Especially, a transaural system is able to realize the binaural signal reproduction with two or more loudspeakers by utilizing a crosstalk canceller. In the transaural system, however, a listener is forced to be still while listening because the crosstalk canceller is highly sensitive to listener´s head movements. This paper proposes a dynamic transaural system that responds to a listener´s head rotation using non-contact head tracking. A localization experiment was performed with the developed system. The experimental results show that source directions are perceived accurately when the listeners are allowed to rotate their heads with the system, thereby indicating that the system works correctly with a listener´s head rotation.