Toward Reality Equivalence in Spatial Sound Diffusion

A study is presented that examines the nature of human spatial hearing and the history of sound spatialization systems in an attempt to map possible routes to fuller "reality equivalent" sound diffusion systems. The known mechanisms that humans use for the spatial perception of sounds include: (1) level differences, (2) frequency response differences, and (3) distance perception. Reality-mimicking systems can be roughly divided into those that use headphone presentation and those that use loudspeakers. None of the approaches to spatialization mentioned in the study can meet the criteria for true reality equivalence on their own. The best option at present appears to be to develop the hybrid speaker-headphone approach.