title: Estimation of the low-frequency components of the head-related transfer functions of animals from photographs.
abstract: Reliable animal head-related transfer function (HRTF) estimation procedures are needed for several practical applications, for example, to investigate the neuronal mechanisms of sound localization using virtual acoustic spaces or to have a quantitative description of the different localization cues available to a given animal species. Here, two established techniques are combined to estimate an animal's HRTF from photographs by taking into account as much morphological detail as possible. The first step of the method consists in building a three-dimensional-model of the animal from pictures taken with a standard camera. The HRTFs are then estimated by means of a rapid boundary-element-method implementation. This combined method is validated on a taxidermist model of a cat by comparing binaural and monaural localization cues extracted from estimated and measured HRTFs. It is shown that it provides a reliable way to estimate low-frequency HRTF, which is difficult to obtain with standard acoustical measurements procedures because of reflections.
authors.affiliation: PIMM, Arts et Métiers Paristech, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rébillat
authors.affiliation: Département d'Études Cognitives, École Normale Supérieure and Laboratoire Psychologie de la Perception, CNRS and Université Paris Descartes, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Victor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Benichoux
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Engineering, Shinshu University, Nagano, Japan.
authors.forename: Makoto
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Otani
authors.affiliation: Acute3D, Centre International de Communication Avancée, Sophia-Antipolis, France.
authors.forename: Renaud
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Keriven
authors.affiliation: Département d'Études Cognitives, École Normale Supérieure and Laboratoire Psychologie de la Perception, CNRS and Université Paris Descartes, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Romain
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Brette
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000818:Animals; D001306:Auditory Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D002415:Cats; D002508:Cephalometry; D003463:Cues; D004423:Ear / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006257:Head / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D008953:Models, Anatomic; D010781:Photography; D011571:Psychoacoustics; D013017:Sound Localization / Q000502:physiology*