Listening Tests and Evaluation of Simulated Sound Fields Using VibeStudio Designer
Abstract
This paper presents the results of a user-based
evaluation of localization accuracy, distance perception
as well as room size perception for headphone and
loudspeaker based auditory displays. A total of 50
participants listened to four auditory scenes created with
VRSonic’s VibeStation application. Each scene was
rendered using two methods: loudspeaker panning over
a 5.0 loudspeaker array and headphone-based spatial
sound reproduction using Head Related Transfer
Functions (HRTFs). The four scenes were designed to
each test a specific aspect of spatial hearing. Scene 1
tested for localization of fixed sources. Scene 2 was
used to examine room size perception. Scene 3 was used
to test distance perception and Scene 4 tested for
localization of moving sources and listener. The
participants responded to questions related to the
location of each sound they heard as well as transitions
between two room sizes and free field. The results of the
current study show that the system setup including
hardware and software performs as expected and offers
a user-friendly way for virtual audio simulation.