title: Binaural sound source localization using the frequency diversity of the head-related transfer function.
abstract: The spectral localization cues contained in the head-related transfer function are known to play a contributory role in the sound source localization abilities of humans. However, existing localization techniques are unable to fully exploit this diversity to accurately localize a sound source. The availability of just two measured signals complicates matters further, and results in front to back confusions and poor performance distinguishing between the source locations in a vertical plane. This study evaluates the performance of a source location estimator that retains the frequency domain diversity of the head-related transfer function. First, a method for extracting the directional information in the subbands of a broadband signal is described, and a composite estimator based on signal subspace decomposition is introduced. The localization performance is experimentally evaluated for single and multiple source scenarios in the horizontal and vertical planes. The proposed estimator's ability to successfully localize a sound source and resolve the ambiguities in the vertical plane is demonstrated, and the impact of the source location, knowledge of the source and the effect of reverberation is discussed.
authors.affiliation: Research School of Engineering, College of Engineering and Computer Science, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia Capital Territory 0200, Australia.
authors.forename: Dumidu S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Talagala
authors.affiliation: Research School of Engineering, College of Engineering and Computer Science, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia Capital Territory 0200, Australia.
authors.forename: Wen
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Research School of Engineering, College of Engineering and Computer Science, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia Capital Territory 0200, Australia.
authors.forename: Thushara D
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Abhayapala
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Auckland, Auckland 1142, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Abhilash
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kamineni
mesh_terms: D000162:Acoustics / Q000295:instrumentation; D003463:Cues; D005583:Fourier Analysis; D006257:Head / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D019416:Head Movements; D006801:Humans; D008348:Manikins; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009038:Motion; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D013016:Sound; D013017:Sound Localization; D013018:Sound Spectrography; D013997:Time Factors; D014159:Transducers