Time delay estimation from HRTFs and HRIRs

Abstract

Time delay, which is a propagation time for arriving an acoustic wave emitted from a sound source to an ear durum of listener, and Interaural-Time-Delay (ITD), which is the delay between two ears when acoustic waves reach each ear, are very important sound cues to perceive a sound source position. Therefore, it is essential to 3-D sound systems for formation of effective virtual sound. Time delay and ITD are well contained both in Head-Related-Transfer-Functions (HRTFs) and in Head-Related-Impulse-Responses (HRIRs). However, it is not easy to estimate the accurate time delay and ITD from HRTF and HRIR due to the coarse time resolution and the pinna effect. In this work, we compare the performance of several typical methods for time delay estimation and introduce a HRIR interpolation method to improve accuracy of estimation.