The ability to localise sounds over headphones is becoming increasingly important for today’s technologies and developing world. The aim of this study is to determine binaural localization ability over headphones in specific azimuths across recordings from three room conditions: a treated listening room, a reverberant room, and an anechoic chamber. The B&K Head and Torso Simulator (HATS) was used to capture eight white noise burst samples, 45 degrees apart in azimuth, from each room condition. 15 expert listeners completed an online test to determine localization. Although no statistically significant difference in the overall azimuth localization error between the room conditions was found, a statistically significant difference was found for the 90 and 315 degree angles. The inability of the room conditions to affect participants’ overall localization ability might be due to issues related to the precedence effect, the use of various headphones, HATS, front-back confusions, the cone of confusion, and non-individualized HRTFs. Statistically significant results for the 90 and 315 degree points support previous studies that have shown an improved localization ability in the sagittal-frontal plane.
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https://aes2.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=22337
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