title: Rapid head-related transfer function adaptation using a virtual auditory environment.
abstract: The paper reports on the ability of people to rapidly adapt in localizing virtual sound sources in both azimuth and elevation when listening to sounds synthesized using non-individualized head-related transfer functions (HRTFs). Participants were placed within an audio-kinesthetic Virtual Auditory Environment (VAE) platform that allows association of the physical position of a virtual sound source with an alternate set of acoustic spectral cues through the use of a tracked physical ball manipulated by the subject. This set-up offers a natural perception-action coupling, which is not limited to the visual field of view. The experiment consisted of three sessions: an initial localization test to evaluate participants' performance, an adaptation session, and a subsequent localization test. A reference control group was included using individual measured HRTFs. Results show significant improvement in localization performance. Relative to the control group, participants using non-individual HRTFs reduced localization errors in elevation by 10° with three sessions of 12 min. No significant improvement was found for azimuthal errors or for single session adaptation.
authors.affiliation: LIMSI-CNRS, BP133, Université Paris Sud, Orsay 91403, France. gaetan.parseihian@limsi.fr
authors.forename: Gaëtan
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Parseihian
authors.forename: Brian F G
authors.initials: BF
authors.lastname: Katz
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological / Q000502:physiology*; D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D006309:Hearing / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009949:Orientation / Q000502:physiology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D013017:Sound Localization / Q000502:physiology; D013018:Sound Spectrography; D055815:Young Adult