Externalization of sound images in headphone-based 3D sound system

Abstract

3D sound user often finds the results that the sound image appear to originate either inside, or close to, the head when he uses headphone-based binaural system. This phenomenon is called ‘in-head localization’(IHL). The main factors were chosen to evaluate externalization performance : individualized HRTFs, near-field HRTF characteristics and reverberation. Direct comparison was conducted among them, especially two factors – reverberation and near-field HRTFs.