A Review on Head-Related Transfer Function Generation for Spatial Audio
Source abstract
Abstract
A head-related transfer function (HRTF) is a mathematical model that describes the acoustic path between a sound source and a listener’s ear. Using binaural synthesis techniques, HRTFs play a crucial role in creating immersive audio experiences through headphones or loudspeakers, using binaural synthesis techniques. HRTF measurements can be conducted either with standardised mannequins or with in-ear microphones on real subjects. However, various challenges arise in, for example, individual differences in head shape, pinnae geometry, and torso dimensions, as well as in the extensive number of measurements required for optimal audio immersion. To address these issues, numerous methods have been developed to generate new HRTFs from existing data or through computer simulations. This review paper provides an overview of the current approaches and technologies for generating, adapting, and optimising HRTFs, with a focus on physical modelling, anthropometric techniques, machine learning methods, interpolation strategies, and their practical applications.
Source: crossref · Quality: baseline
Research context
OpenAlex topics: Hearing Loss and Rehabilitation · Music Technology and Sound Studies · Voice and Speech Disorders
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
Affiliations
Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell’Informazione, Università Politecnica delle Marche, 60121 Ancona, Italy
Institute of Information Systems and Networking, University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland, 6928 Manno, Switzerland
Funding
European Union – Next Generation EU · Innovation, digitalisation and sustainability for the diffused economy in Central Italy–VITALITY
References (100+)
Show source-provided references
1. Iida, K. (2019). Head-Related Transfer Function and Acoustic Virtual Reality, Springer.10.1007/978-981-13-9745-5 ↗
2. Spatial audio signal processing for binaural reproduction of recorded acoustic scenes–review and challenges10.1051/aacus/2022040 ↗
3. Garas, J. (2012). Adaptive 3D Sound Systems, Springer Science & Business Media.
4. Cecchi, S., Palestini, L., Peretti, P., Piazza, F., and Bettarelli, F. (2008, January 17–20). Sub-band adaptive crosstalk cancellation: A novel approach for immersive audio. Proceedings of the 124th Audio Engineering Society Convention, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
5. Pelzer, S., Masiero, B., and Vorländer, M. (2011, January 21–28). 3D Reproduction of room acoustics using a hybrid system of combined crosstalk cancellation and ambisonics playback. Proceedings of the International Conference on Software Architecture (ICSA), Honolulu, HI, USA.
6. Cecchi, S., Primavera, A., Piazza, F., Bettarelli, F., and Li, J. (2014, January 6–11). Advanced audio spatializer combined with a multipoint equalization system. Proceedings of the International Joint Conference on Neural Networks (IJCNN), Beijing, China.10.1109/IJCNN.2014.6889555 ↗
7. Muhammad, I., Jang, H.S., and Jeon, J.Y. (2014, January 7–12). Virtual sound field immersions by beamforming and effective crosstalk cancellation using wavelet transform analysis. Proceedings of the Forum on Acoustic Waves and Applications, Karkow, Poland.
8. Bruschi, V., Nobili, S., and Cecchi, S. (2021, January 8–10). Real-time binaural synthesis of moving sound sources over loudspeakers. Proceedings of the Immersive and 3D Audio: From Architecture to Automotive (I3DA), Bologna, Italy.10.1109/I3DA48870.2021.9610886 ↗
9. A causality-constrained frequency-domain least-squares filter design method for crosstalk cancellation10.1109/TASLP.2021.3110651 ↗
10. Vancheri, A., Leidi, T., Heeb, T., and Grossi, L. (2022, January 7–8). Geometrical acoustics approach to cross talk cancellation. Proceedings of the 152nd Audio Engineering Society Convention, Hague, The Netherlands.
11. Vancheri, A., Leidi, T., Heeb, T., and Grossi, L. (2022, January 7–8). Multiband time-domain crosstalk cancellation. Proceedings of the 153rd Audio Engineering Society Convention, Hague, The Netherlands.
12. Vancheri, A., Leidi, T., Heeb, T., and Grossi, L. (2023, January 25–27). Dynamic adaptation in geometrical acoustic CTC. Proceedings of the 154th Audio Engineering Society Convention, New York, NY, USA.
13. Sound localization in individualized and non-individualized crosstalk cancellation systems10.1121/1.4792355 ↗
14. On the authenticity of individual dynamic binaural synthesis10.1121/1.5005606 ↗
15. Binaural technique: Do we need individual recordings?
16. Armstrong, C., Thresh, L., Murphy, D., and Kearney, G. (2018). A perceptual evaluation of individual and non-individual HRTFs: A case study of the SADIE II database. Appl. Sci., 8.10.3390/app8112029 ↗
17. Usher, J., and Martens, W.L. (2007, January 26–29). Perceived naturalness of speech sounds presented using personalized versus non-personalized HRTFs. Proceedings of the International Conference on Auditory Display (ICAD). Georgia Institute of Technology, Montreal, QC, Canada.
18. Head movement during head-related transfer function measurements10.1250/ast.31.165 ↗
19. Masiero, B., Pollow, M., and Fels, J. (July, January 27). Design of a fast broadband individual head-related transfer function measurement system. Proceedings of the Forum Acusticum, Aalborg, Denmark.
20. Bolaños, J.G., and Pulkki, V. (2012, January 26–29). HRIR database with measured actual source direction Data. Proceedings of the 133rd Audio Engineering Society Convention, San Francisco, CA, USA.
21. Carpentier, T., Bahu, H., Noisternig, M., and Warusfel, O. (2014, January 7–12). Measurement of a head-related transfer function database with high spatial resolution. Proceedings of the 7th Forum Acusticum (EAA), Krakow, Poland.
22. Avendano, C., Duda, R.O., and Algazi, R. (1999, January 10–12). Modeling the contralateral HRTF. Proceedings of the 16th AES International Conference on Spatial Sound Reproduction, Rovaniemi, Finland.
23. Implementation of 3D HRTF interpolation in synthesizing virtual 3D moving sound10.14716/ijtech.v8i1.6859 ↗
24. Head-related transfer function interpolation in azimuth, elevation, and distance10.1121/1.4828983 ↗
25. Biscainho, L.W.P., Freeland, F.P., and Diniz, P.S.R. (2002, January 13–17). Using inter-positional transfer functionsin 3D-sound. Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing (ICASSP), Orlando, FL, USA.10.1109/ICASSP.2002.1006154 ↗
26. Freeland, F.P., Biscainho, L.W.P., and Diniz, P.S.R. (2004, January 6–10). Interpolation of head-related transfer functions (HRTFs): A multi-source approach. Proceedings of the 12th European Signal Processing Conference (EUSIPCO), Vienna, Austria.
27. Bruschi, V., Dourou, N., Carini, A., and Cecchi, S. (2021, January 8–10). A New HRTF interpolation approach for nonlinear 3D audio systems. Proceedings of the Immersive and 3D Audio: From Architecture to Automotive (I3DA), Bologna, Italy.
28. Hartung, K., Braasch, J., and Sterbing, S.J. (1999, January 10–12). Comparison of different methods for the interpolation of Head-Related Transfer Functions. Proceedings of the 16th Audio Engineering Society Conference on Spatial Sound Reproduction, Rovaniemi, Finland.
29. Magnitude-corrected and time-aligned interpolation of head-related transfer functions10.1109/TASLP.2023.3313908 ↗
30. Aussal, M., Alouges, F., and Katz, B.F.G. (2012, January 25–27). ITD interpolation and personalization for binaural synthesis using spherical harmonics. Proceedings of the 25th Audio Engineering Society Conference, York, UK.
31. Tu, W., Hu, R., Wang, H., and Chen, W. (2010, January 24–25). Measurement and analysis of just noticeable difference of interaural level difference cue. Proceedings of the International Conference on Multimedia Technology, Kaifeng, China.10.1109/ICMULT.2010.5630980 ↗
32. Subjective HRTF evaluations for obtaining global similarity metrics of assessors and assessees10.1007/s12193-016-0214-y ↗
33. Garcia-Gomez, V., and Lopez, J.J. (2018, January 23–26). Binaural room impulse responses interpolation for multimedia real-time applications. Proceedings of the 144th Audio Engineering Society Convention, Milan, Italy.
34. Efficient binaural rendering of moving sound sources using HRTF interpolation10.1080/09298215.2011.594894 ↗
35. Perceptually based head-related transfer function database optimization10.1121/1.3672641 ↗
36. International Telecommunication Union (2015). Method for the Subjective Assessment of Intermediate Quality Level of Audio Systems, ITU. Recommendation ITU-R BS.1534-3.
37. Lee, J.W., Lee, S., and Lee, K. (2013, January 4–10). Global HRTF interpolation via learned affine transformation of hyper-conditioned features. Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing (ICASSP), Rhodes Island, Greece.
38. Modeling sound-source localization in sagittal planes for human listeners10.1121/1.4887447 ↗
39. Research of acoustical impedance of human skin
40. Anthropometric manikin for acoustic research10.1121/1.380648 ↗
41. Gardner, B., and Martin, K. (2024, November 24). HRTF measurements of a KEMAR dummy-head microphone. MIT Media Lab Perceptual Computing Technical Report 280, Available online: https://sound.media.mit.edu/resources/KEMAR.html.
42. Bovbjerg, B.P., Christensen, F., Minnaar, P., and Chen, X. (2000, January 22–25). Measuring the Head-Related Transfer Functions of an artificial head with a high-directional resolution. Proceedings of the 109th Audio Engineering Society Convention, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
43. On the influence of continuous subject rotation during high-resolution head-related transfer function measurements10.1109/TASLP.2019.2894329 ↗
44. Wierstorf, H., Geier, M., and Spors, S. (2011, January 13–16). A free database of head related impulse response measurements in the horizontal plane with multiple distances. Proceedings of the 130th Audio Engineering Society Convention, London, UK.
45. Li, Y., Preihs, S., and Peissig, J. (2022, January 7–8). Acquisition of continuous-distance near-field head-related transfer functions on KEMAR using adaptive filtering. Proceedings of the 152nd Audio Engineering Society Convention, Hague, The Netherlands.
46. Head-related transfer functions of human subjects
47. Ye, Q., Dong, Q., Zhang, Y., and Li, X. (2010, January 23–27). Fast head-related transfer function measurement in complex environments. Proceedings of the 20th International Congress on Acoustics, Sydney, Australia.
48. Near-field head-related transfer-function measurement and Ddatabase of human subjects10.1121/1.5027019 ↗
49. Li, S., and Peissig, J. (2020). Measurement of head-related transfer functions: A review. Appl. Sci., 10.10.3390/app10145014 ↗
50. HRTF measurements of a KEMAR10.1121/1.412407 ↗
51. Pseudorandom signals for the dynamic analysis of multivariable systems10.1049/piee.1966.0213 ↗
52. Pseudo-random sequences and arrays10.1109/PROC.1976.10411 ↗
53. Integrated-impulse method measuring sound decay without using impulses10.1121/1.383103 ↗
54. An efficient algorithm for measuring the impulse response using pseudorandom noise
55. Measuring impulse responses with digitally pre-emphasized pseudorandom noise derived from maximum-length sequences10.1016/0003-682X(94)00019-R ↗
56. Nonlinear identification using inverse-repeatm sequences10.1049/piee.1970.0048 ↗
57. Distortion immunity of MLS-derived impulse response Measurements
58. Complementary series10.1109/TIT.1961.1057620 ↗
59. Transfer-function measurement with sweeps
60. Müller, S. (2008). Measuring transfer-functions and impulse responses. Handbook of Signal Processing in Acoustics, Springer.10.1007/978-0-387-30441-0_5 ↗
61. Comparison of head-related impulse response measurement approaches10.1121/1.4813592 ↗
62. Acoustical measurements by time delay spectrometry
63. Simultaneous measurement of impulse response and distortion with a swept-sine technique
64. Multiple exponential sweep method for fast measurement of head-related transfer functions
65. On the optimization of the multiple exponential sweep method
66. Quattrini, A., Vancheri, A., Leidi, T., Heeb, T., Grossi, L., Oldano, G., and Spagnoli, N. (2024, January 15–17). An approach for mesh-based generation of spatially dense, lowpass-filtered, individualized HRTFs using dynamic data acquisition. Proceedings of the 156th Audio Engineering Society Convention, Madrid, Spain.
67. Comparison of different impulse response measurement techniques
68. Pulkki, V., Laitinen, M.V., and Sivonen, V. (2010, January 22–25). HRTF measurements with a continuously moving loudspeaker and swept sines. Proceedings of the 128th Audio Engineering Society Convention, London, UK.
69. Enzner, G. (April, January 31). Analysis and optimal control of LMS-type adaptive filtering for continuous-azimuth acquisition of head related impulse responses. Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing (ICASSP), Las Vegas, NV, USA.
70. Correa, C.K., Li, S., and Peissig, J. (2017, January 6–9). Analysis and comparison of different adaptive filtering algorithms for fast continuous HRTF measurement. Proceedings of the Tagungsband Fortschritte der Akustik—DAGA, Kiel, Germany.
71. Haykin, S.S. (2002). Adaptive Filter Theory, Pearson Education.
72. Xie, B., and Zhong, X. (2014). Head-Related Transfer Function and Virtual Auditory Display, InTech.
73. Carini, A., Cecchi, S., Romoli, L., and Sicuranza, G.L. (2014, January 1–5). Perfect periodic sequences for Legendre nonlinear filters. Proceedings of the 22nd European Signal Processing Conference (EUSIPCO), Lisbon, Portugal.
74. Carini, A., Cecchi, S., and Romoli, L. (September, January 31). Room impulse response estimation using perfect sequences for Legendre nonlinear filters. Proceedings of the 23rd European Signal Processing Conference (EUSIPCO), Nice, France.
75. Carini, A., Romoli, L., Cecchi, S., and Orcioni, S. (September, January 28). Perfect periodic sequences for nonlinear Wiener filters. Proceedings of the 24th European Signal Processing Conference (EUSIPCO), Budapest, Hungary.
76. Cecchi, S., Bruschi, V., Nobili, S., Terenzi, A., and Carini, A. (2022, January 4–6). Using periodic sequences for HRTFs measurement robust towards nonlinearities in automotive audio applications. Proceedings of the IEEE International Workshop on Metrology for Automotive (MetroAutomotive), Modena, Italy.10.1109/MetroAutomotive54295.2022.9855108 ↗
77. Robust room impulse response measurement using perfect sequences for Legendre nonlinear filters10.1109/TASLP.2016.2593803 ↗
78. Carini, A., Cecchi, S., Terenzi, A., and Orcioni, S. (2018, January 3–7). On room impulse response measurement using perfect sequences for Wiener nonlinear filters. Proceedings of the 26th European Signal Processing Conference (EUSIPCO), Eternal, Italy.10.23919/EUSIPCO.2018.8553547 ↗
79. Carini, A., Cecchi, S., and Orcioni, S. (2020). Robust room impulse response measurement using perfect periodic sequences for Wiener nonlinear filters. Electronics, 9.10.3390/electronics9111793 ↗
80. Orthogonal periodic sequences for the identification of functional link polynomial filters10.1109/TSP.2020.3021244 ↗
81. Carini, A., Orcioni, S., and Cecchi, S. (2019, January 2–6). On room impulse response measurement using orthogonal periodic sequences. Proceedings of the 27th European Signal Processing Conference (EUSIPCO), Coruna, Spain.10.23919/EUSIPCO.2019.8902542 ↗
82. A room impulse response measurement method robust towards nonlinearities based on orthogonal periodic Sequences10.1109/TASLP.2021.3120595 ↗
83. HRTF measurement by means of unsupervised head movements with respect to a single fixed speaker
84. Jayaram, V., Kemelmacher-Shlizerman, I., and Seitz, S.M. (November, January 29). HRTF estimation in the wild. Proceedings of the 36th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology, San Francisco, CA, USA.
85. Yang, Z., and Choudhury, R. (2021, January 9). Personalizing head related transfer functions for earables. Proceedings of the 2021 ACM SIGCOMM Conference, Virtual Event.10.1145/3452296.3472907 ↗
86. Fully perceptual-based 3D spatial sound individualization with an adaptive variational autoencoder10.1145/3130800.3130838 ↗
87. Gebru, I.D., Marković, D., Richard, A., Krenn, S., Butler, G.A., De la Torre, F., and Sheikh, Y. (2021, January 6–11). Implicit HRTF modeling using temporal convolutional networks. Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing (ICASSP), Toronto, ON, Canada.10.1109/ICASSP39728.2021.9414750 ↗
88. Sanyal, S., Bolkart, T., Feng, H., and Black, M.J. (2019, January 15–20). Learning to regress 3D face shape and expression from an image without 3D supervision. Proceedings of the IEEE/CVF Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition, Long Beach, CA, USA.10.1109/CVPR.2019.00795 ↗
89. Brinkmann, F., Manoj, D., Pelzer, R., Wohlgemuth, J.J., Seipel, F., Voss, D., Grosche, P., and Weinzierl, S. (2019). The HUTUBS Head-Related Transfer Function (HRTF) Database, TU Berlin.
90. The sonicom HRTF dataset10.17743/jaes.2022.0066 ↗
91. Sridhar, R., Tylka, J., and Choueiri, E. (2017, January 18–21). A database of head-related transfer function and morphological measurements. Proceedings of the 143rd Audio Engineering Society Convention, New York, NY, USA.
92. Principles of boundary element methods10.1016/0167-7977(87)90014-1 ↗
93. Kirkup, S. (2019). The boundary element method in acoustics: A survey. Appl. Sci., 9.10.3390/app9081642 ↗
94. Solving boundary integral problems with BEM++
95. NumCalc: An open-source BEM code for solving acoustic scattering problems10.1016/j.enganabound.2024.01.008 ↗
96. Bai, M.R., Ih, J.G., and Benesty, J. (2013). Acoustic Array Systems: Theory, Implementation, and Application, John Wiley & Sons.10.1002/9780470827253 ↗
97. Kahana, Y., Nelson, P.A., Petyt, M., and Choi, S. (1999, January 10–12). Numerical modelling of the transfer functions of a dummy-head and of the external ear. Proceedings of the 16th Audio Engineering Society International Conference on Spatial Sound Reproduction, Rovaniemi, Finland.
98. Fast head-related transfer function measurement via reciprocity10.1121/1.2207578 ↗
99. Computation of the head-related transfer function via the fast multipole accelerated boundary element method and its spherical harmonic representation10.1121/1.3257598 ↗
100. Six boundary elements per wavelength: Is that enough?10.1142/S0218396X02001401 ↗