A listening test system for automotive audio: Part 5 - The influence of listening environment on the realism of binaural reproduction

Binaural technology can be used to capture elements of an in-car sound field and reproduce them over headphones at another place and time. An experiment to test the influence of the listening environment on the realism of such a binaural reproduction is described. A panel of 12 trained listeners rate a range of stimuli for 6 elicited attributes of sound quality. Ratings are made for the actual sound field in the test vehicle, for a binaural reproduction in the same test vehicle and for a binaural reproduction in a listening room. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) is used to compare ratings from the different reproduction environments. The results show that the tested binaural reproduction system is able to preserve either the rank order or the perceived magnitudes of the impressions of the sound field for the attributes Precision, Treble, Stereo impression, Bass, and Reverberation, independent of the listening environment.