Evaluation of binaural reproduction systems from behavioral patterns in a six-degrees-of-freedom wayfinding task

Abstract

This paper proposes a new method for evaluating real-time binaural reproduction systems by means of a wayfinding task in six degrees of freedom. Participants physically walk to sound objects in a virtual reality created by a head-mounted display and binaural audio. We show how the localization accuracy of spatial audio rendering is reflected by objective measures of the participants’ behavior. The method allows for comparative evaluation of different rendering systems as well as the subjective assessment of the quality of experience.