Re: FW: Head and Torso simulator (HATS)

[Al Bregman <bregman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dear Nick,

I see no reason for scorn for any question related to auditory
perception.  I hope you get your answer. - Al

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Albert S. Bregman,  Professor, Dept of Psychology,  McGill University
1205 Docteur Penfield Avenue,   Montreal,  Quebec,  Canada   H3A 1B1.
Phone: +1 514-398-6103 Fax: -4896 Email: bregman@hebb.psych.mcgill.ca
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On Thu, 20 Jun 1996, Zacharov Nick (NRC/Tre) wrote:

> STANDARD METHODS FOR JUDGING THE QUALITY OF HEAD AND TORSO SIMULATORS
>
> At this time I am interested in evaluating the various HATS devices
> available on the market. All (B&K, Cotex, Head) are aimed at very different
> market segments (telecommunication, instrumentation, binaural work, etc. )
> and are thus engineered in different manners.
>
> It would appear on first inspection that a lot of work has gone into the
> design of the head/ears geometry and materials, in all cases, though how the
> optimum was found is unclear. Binaural recordings made with such devices
> produce a wide range of experiences to different listeners. In most cases
> the results are far from what is expected/hoped for. This is not surprising
> as we all have very different head gometries and have adapted to this
> thoughout our lives.
>
> I would therefore pose the question to all memebers, that is there any
> information on which commercial HATS provides the 'better' representation of
> Mr ' Averages' head related transfer functions for use in Binaural studies,
> and what is this knowledge based upon? Are there any standard methods for
> evaluating such charactersitcs?
>
> I hope that these questions do not meet with too much scorn from the group,
> as I feel that this is an interesting, releveant and relatively undocumented
> issue.
>
> thanks
>
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>  ----------------------------------------
> Nick Zacharov
> Acoustic Research Engineer
>
> Audio Systems
> Nokia Research Center    Email: nick.zacharov@research.nokia.com
> PO Box 100
> 33721 Tampere       Tel: +358-31-272-5786
> Finland             Fax: +358-31-272-5899
>
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