Personalized HRTF Generation via User Movement
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional methods for generating personalized Head-Related Transfer Functions (HRTFs) are technically complex and not user-friendly, requiring data collection on how a user perceives sound from different 3D positions, which is not intuitive or engaging.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that use a user device with microphones at each ear and a controller to prompt the user to move to various positions, emitting a sound signal and detecting the sound received, allowing for personalized HRTF generation without requiring users to move equipment, potentially integrated into VR or gaming tasks, using virtual targets to guide the user and sensors to verify positions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If conventional methods are used to generate personalized HRTF by collecting data on user sound perception from different 3D positions, then measurement precision is improved, but device complexity and ease of operation deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of moving equipment around the user to collect HRTF data, the solution inverts the approach by keeping equipment stationary and moving the user through a series of positions. The user wears a headset with microphones and moves to predetermined locations while the system emits sound signals, fundamentally reversing who or what moves in the data collection process.
Solution Approach 2:
The user themselves becomes the moving element in the data collection process. By having the user physically move to different positions while wearing the measurement device, their own movement serves the purpose of collecting spatial audio data, eliminating the need for complex equipment manipulation.
2Measurement precision
If conventional methods require users to move equipment to collect sound perception data, then measurement precision is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system inverts the conventional approach by having the user move instead of moving equipment. The user wears a stationary headset with microphones and physically relocates to predetermined positions in the room, making the operation simpler and more intuitive for the user.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces complex mechanical equipment manipulation with simple user movement. Instead of requiring users to handle and reposition audio equipment, the system substitutes this mechanical complexity with the simpler act of the user walking to predetermined locations marked in the environment.
3Ease of operation
If the system prompts the user to move to series of different positions, then ease of operation is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The headset device serves multiple functions: it contains microphones for sound detection, position sensors for tracking user location, and integrates with a controller that manages the entire HRTF measurement process. This multi-functionality consolidates what would otherwise require separate devices into a single universal unit.
Solution Approach 2:
The controller acts as an intermediary that coordinates between the sound source, the headset with sensors, and the processing system. It manages the sequence of operations, triggers sound emissions, receives sensor data, and coordinates the overall measurement process, simplifying the interaction between various system components.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables straightforward and convenient personalized HRTF generation, improving the user experience by focusing on specific 3D sound positioning and hearing factors, closely matching real-life audio perception with virtual audio rendering.
Implementation Method 1
obtain a detected sound signal from each of the left and right microphones when the user is at each second position
Data Source
Figure 1A
Figure 1B
Figure 2
AI summary
A system for generating a personalised Head-Related Transfer Function, HRTF, for a user, the system comprising: a sound source at a first position; a user device comprising: a left microphone arranged to be at a left ear of the user, when the user device is worn; a right microphone arranged to be at a right ear of the user, when the user device is worn; and a controller configured to: prompt the user to move to series of different second positions; control the sound source to emit a predetermined sound signal when the user is at each second position; obtain a detected sound signal from each of the left and right microphones when the user is at each second position; generate a personalised HRTF based on the predetermined sound signal and the detected sound signal for each microphone and each second position.