Final Thesis

The Influence of Individual, Individualized and Non-Individualized HRTFs on the Auditory Selective Attention of Children

Master Thesis of Holländer, Christina

A listening experiment based on a developed paradigm with binaural sound reproduction is conducted to examine the influence of the individualized and non-individual head-related transfer function (HRTF) in comparison to the individual HRTF on the ability of auditory selective attention in children. The HRTF describes how an incident sound event changes until it reaches the ear canal of a person. It depends on the head shape and outer ear geometries, making it unique for each subject. However, the measurement of the individual HRTF is not convenient for a broad application. However, since the anthropometric data of children differs from that of adults, standardized HRTFs developed for adults may not be appropriate for the sound reproduction for children. Therefore, this study will also include two individualization methods based on anthropometric dimensions that aim at the estimation of the individual HRTF. One method uses an interaural time difference model, while the other method is based on principle component analysis. Mismatches between standardized, individualized, and individual HRTFs cannot be avoided, thus the task remains to analyze the influence these differences have on the auditory selective attention of children. Therefore, the HRTF of a dummy head, the individual HRTF of each subject and two individualization methods will be studied and statistically analyzed in a listening experiment with 24 children (50% male, 50% female) in the age of 6-10.