Binaural Spatialisation Over a Bone Conduction Headset: Elevation Perception

Abstract

Preliminary results from an on-going experiment exploring the localisation accuracy of a binaurally processed source displayed via a bone conduction headset are described. These results appear to point to decreased localisation accuracy in the horizontal plane when the vertical component is introduced. There also appears to be a significant compression in the area directly in front of the observer ± 15° in elevation from 0°. This suggests that participants tended to localise stimuli presented at elevations greater than and less than ± 30° within a 30° 'window' extending 15° vertically either above or below the horizontal plane defined by the 0° azimuth. The results gathered until now suggest that binaural spatialisation over a bone conduction headset can also reproduce the perception of an elevated source to an acceptable degree of accuracy.