AES U.K. Section – Do We Really Need Crosstalk Cancellation for Binaural Playback in Cars?
Over recent years, binaural audio has become an increasingly popular way to render immersive 3D sound experiences, and the automotive industry has been exploring how headrest-mounted loudspeakers could play a role in the future of in-car entertainment systems. One of the biggest challenges with binaural playback over loudspeakers is crosstalk, which usually reduces spatial accuracy and requires complex cancellation techniques (crosstalk-cancellation processing).
Interestingly, measurements taken using a representative automotive headrest fitted with full range drive units suggest that in certain conditions, such as when the head is in direct contact with the headrest, there can be enough natural channel separation to make broadband binaural reproduction possible without the need for crosstalk cancellation. Even inside a car cabin, where reflections complicate things, there are signs that band-limited binaural playback may still be achievable. These findings open up some exciting possibilities for delivering more immersive and natural sounding audio in vehicles without relying on heavy digital signal processing.