Extracting the frequencies of the pinna spectral notches from measured head-related impulse responses

Experimental data are available for the Head‐related impulse response (HRIR) for several azimuth and elevation angles, and for several subjects. The measured HRIR depends on several factors such as reflections from body parts (torso, shoulder, and knees), head diffraction, and reflection/diffraction effects due to the external ear (pinna). Due to the combined influence of these factors on the HRIR, it is difficult to isolate features thought to be perceptually important (such as the frequencies of pinna spectral notches) using standard signal‐processing techniques. Signal‐processing methods to extract the frequencies of the pinna spectral notches from the HRIR are presented. The techniques are applied to extracting the frequencies of the pinna spectral notches from the publicly available HRIR databases. A brief discussion relating the notch frequencies to the physical dimensions and the shape of the pinna is given. [The support of NSF Award ITR‐0086075 is gratefully acknowledged.]