Median plane localization using a parametric model of the head‐related transfer function based on spectral cues

The present study has two purposes. One is to examine a simulation method for localizing a sound image. The authors propose a parametric HRTF model to simulate vertical sound localization. The parametric HRTF is recomposed only of the spectral peaks and notches extracted from the measured HRTF, and the spectral peaks and notches are expressed parametrically with center frequency, level, and sharpness. The other purpose is to clarify the contribution of each spectral peak and notch as a spectral cue. Localization tests were carried out in the upper median plane using the subjects’ own measured HRTFs and the parametric HRTFs with various combinations of spectral peaks and notches. The results show that the parametric HRTF recomposed using the first and second notches (N1 and N2) and the first peak (P1) provides almost the same localization accuracy as the measured HRTFs. Observations of the spectral peaks and notches indicate that N1 and N2 change remarkably as the source elevation changes, whereas P1 does not depend on the source elevation. In conclusion, N1 and N2 can be regarded as spectral cues, and the hearing system could utilize P1 as the reference information to analyze N1 and N2 in ear‐input signals.