similarity between the stimuli used in the two experiments. In the IAC experiment, the dimension of change (Y axis) is interaural difference. Correlated noise is hypothesized (Durlach 1963) to be represented as a constant ‘zero’ value, whereas uncorrelated noise is represented as a randomly fluctuating value. The size of the black segments symbolizes the temporal resolution of binaural processi...

The performance of various spatialization techniques is evaluated for a distributed audience using the nonideal speaker arrangements found in small concert halls. The methods under evaluation are Second Order Ambisonics, Vector Base Amplitude Panning, Delta Stereophony and Spat with B-format Ambisonics encoding. Each method is assessed in terms of its localization accuracy. The data is presente...

Auditory continuity is a powerful illusion which has implications for the efficient coding of sound. Although auditory continuity has been studied extensively as a monaural phenomenon, there have been few reports of the influence of binaural factors. Hartmann [1] and Kashino & Warren [2] report that when a tone alternates with a noise, the continuity threshold of the tone is lower when the tone...

This paper attempts to provide a state-of-the-art of sound source localization in Robotics. Noticeably, this context raises original constraints—e.g. embeddability, real time, broadband environments, noise and reverberation—which are seldom simultaneously taken into account in Acoustics or Signal Processing. A comprehensive review is proposed of recent robotics achievements, be they binaural or...

This paper addresses the problem of speech recognition using distant binaural microphones in reverberant multisource noise conditions. Our scheme employs a two stage fragment decoding approach: first spectro-temporal acoustic source fragments are identified using signal level cues, and second, a hypothesisdriven stage simultaneously searches for the most probable speech/background fragment labe...

Breaking musical and creative expression into elements, layers, and formulas, we explore how live listeners create unique sonic experiences from a palette of these elements and their interactions. Bringing us to present-day creative applications, a social and historical overview of silent disco is presented. The advantages of this active listening interface are outlined by the author’s expressi...

In this paper we describe work which characterises the effect of spatial factors on the segregation of concurrent sound sources. The results inform the operational requirements of virtual auditory displays required to render multiple, concurrent sound sources in terms of (i) minimum spacing between sources and (ii) identification of the principal acoustic directional cues exploited by the audit...

In the context of ambient assisted living, automatic speech recognition (ASR) has the potential to provide textual support for hearing aid users in challenging acoustic conditions. In this paper we therefore investigate possibilities to improve ASR based on binaural hearing aid signals in complex acoustic scenes. Particularly, information about the spatial configuration of sound sources is expl...

We present a method for localizing and separating sound sources in stereo recordings that is robust to reverberation and does not make any assumptions about the source statistics. The method consists of a probabilistic model of binaural multisource recordings and an expectation maximization algorithm for finding the maximum likelihood parameters of that model. These parameters include distribut...