BINAURAL MEASUREMENT AND SIMULATION OF THE ROOM ACOUSTICAL RESPONSE FROM A PERSON'S MOUTH TO THEIR EARS

This paper outlines methods to simulate the sound of one's own voice as it is affected by room acoustics, using binaural technology. An oral-binaural room impulse response (OBRIR) measurement can be made of a real room environment from the mouth to the ears of the same head. For simulation, a talker’s voice is convolved in real-time with the OBRIR, so that they can hear the sound of their own voice in the simulated room environment. We show by example how OBRIR measurements can be made using human subjects (by measuring the transfer function of speech) or by a head and torso simulator (HATS), and we illustrate the differences between individualised measurements and HATS measurements. We extend the HATS measurement method through binaural room scanning, which allows the simulation system to produce natural changes in the OBRIR as subjects rotate their heads while listening to their own voice.