Subjective HRTF evaluations for obtaining global similarity metrics of assessors and assessees

In the absence of a well-suited measure for quantifying binaural data variations, this study presents a global perceptual distance metric which can describe both HRTF and listener similarities. The metric is derived based on subjective evaluations of binaural renderings of a sound moving along predefined trajectories on the horizontal and median planes. Its characteristics and advantages in describing data distributions based on perceptually relevant attributes are discussed. In addition, the use of 24 HRTFs from two different databases of origin allows for an evaluation of the perceptual impact of some database-dependent characteristics on binaural spatialization. The effectiveness of the experimental design and the correlation between the HRTF evaluations of the two plane trajectories are also discussed.

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