Auralization of a virtual living room sound system using measured spatial room impulse responses

Recent advancements in spherical microphone array technology and binaural rendering methods enable plausible auralization of measured spatial sound fields over headphones with preservation of spatial auditory perceptions. This work applies these technologies toward the spatial enhancement of stereophonic music signals played back over headphones. Spatial room impulse responses (SRIRs) measured with a studio monitor and subwoofer were used to characterize the acoustics of a living room excited by a stereo sound system. An additional set of SRIRs was simulated to represent an anechoic condition. These SRIRs were combined and processed to form three different sound system representations at four different spatial resolutions to serve as spatial enhancement for three music excerpts. Binaurally rendered stimuli using these enhancement methods were perceptually evaluated in a subjective study based on how "natural" of a reproduction they produced. Reproductions using high spatial resolution with the measured SRIRs were rated as more natural than the lowest resolution used (monopole). However, spatial resolution was not found to have a significant effect on the naturalness of the simulated anechoic condition. The results also suggest that the musical style of an excerpt may affect its overall naturalness independently of the virtual sound system representations which were evaluated.