A study of the pinna anthropometry and the spectral notch frequencies

The head‐related transfer function (HRTF) varies significantly between individuals due to the different sizes and shapes of different anatomical parts like the pinnae, head, and torso. Applications in the creation of virtual auditory displays require individual HRTFs for perceptual fidelity. A generic HRTF would not work satisfactorily, since it has been shown that nonindividual HRTFs result in poor elevation perception. While good geometrical models exist for the effects of head, torso, and shoulders, a simple model for the pinna that connects the anthropometry to the features in the HRTF does not exist. One of the prominent cues contributed by the pinna are the sharp spectral notches, which encode the elevation of the sound source. Recently, we proposed a method to extract the frequencies of the pinna spectral notches from the HRTF. In this paper we study the relationship between the extracted notch frequency and pinna anthropometry. Based on these observations new approaches for HRTF customization can be developed. [The support of NSF Award ITR‐0086075 is gratefully acknowledged.]