A Perceptual Evaluation of Individual and Non-Individual HRTFs : a case study of the SADIE II database

As binaural audio continues to permeate immersive technologies it is vital to develop a detailed understanding of the perceptual relevance of HRTFs. Previous research has explored the benefit of individual HRTFs with respect to localisation. However, localization is only one metric with which it is possible to rate spatial audio. This paper evaluates the perceived timbral and spatial characteristics of both individual and non-individual HRTFs and compares the results to overall preference. To that end the measurement and evaluation of a high-resolution multi-environment binaural impulse response database is presented for 20 subjects, including the KU100 and KEMAR binaural mannequins. It contains a minimum of 2114 unique HRTFs for each human subject and 8802 measurements for each mannequin. Listening test results indicate that particular HRTF sets may be preferred more generally by subjects over their own individual measurements.