Binaural renderers can be used to reproduce dynamic spatial audio over headphones and deliver immersive audio content. Six commercially available binaural renderers with different rendering methodologies were evaluated in a multi-phase subjective study. This paper presents and discusses the testing methodology, evaluation criteria, and main findings of the externalization, front/back discrimination and up/down discrimination tasks that are part of the first phase. Statistical analysis over a large number of subjects revealed that the choice of renderer has a significant effect on all three dependent measures. Further, ratings of perceived externalization for the renderers were found to be content-specific, while renderer reversal rates were much more robust to different stimuli.

Authors: Reardon, Gregory; Zalles, Gabriel; Genovese, Andrea; Flanagan, Patrick; Roginska, Agnieszka
Affiliations: New York University, New York, NY, USA; THX Ltd., San Francisco, CA, USA(See document for exact affiliation information.)
AES Convention: 144 (May 2018) Paper Number: 9989
Publication Date: May 14, 2018
Subject: Perception – Part 2

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