FW: Head and Torso simulator (HATS)

["Zacharov Nick (NRC/Tre)" <zacharov@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

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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