LOCALIZATION OF VIRTUAL SOUND CREATED USING INDIVIDUALIZED AND NON-INDIVIDUALIZED HRTF FOR DIRECT AND REFLECTED SOUND

Good sound localization is an essential factor required for vir-tual auditory display (VAD) systems. These systems especially those based on the Head-Related Transfer Function (HRTF) often encounter the problem where the locations of virtual sound im-ages are perceived at different locations to those that have been assumed. Considering the fact that reflected sound enhances the reality of virtual space, the accuracy of sound localization in a VAD system might be improved by presenting not only direct but also reflected sound. Therefore, we investigated what effect the presence of a single reflected sound had on the accuracy of the azimuthal localization of a virtual sound image. The results of subjective tests revealed that reflection created using a listener’s own HRTF (individualized) is more effective for localizing sound than that created using someone else’s HRTF (non-individualized). However, the performance was comparable with cases where only direct sound was presented. 1