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.