Evaluation of binaural renderers: Localization

Binaural renderers can be used to reproduce spatial audio over headphones. A number of different renderers have recently become commercially available for use in creating immersive audio content. High-quality spatial audio can be used to significantly enhance experiences in a number of different media applications, such as virtual, mixed and augmented reality, computer games, and music and movie. A large multi-phase experiment evaluating six commercial binaural renderers was performed. This paper presents the methodology, evaluation criteria, and main findings of the horizontal-plane source localization experiment carried out with these renderers. Significant differences between renderers’ regional localization accuracy were found. Consistent with previous research, subjects tended to localize better in the front and back of the head than at the sides. Differences between renderer performance at the side regions heavily contributed to their overall regional localization accuracy.