A sound localization method based on the adaptive estimation of inverse Ear Canal Transfer Functions (ECTFs) using a stereo earphone-microphone combination is proposed. This method can adaptively obtain the individual's transfer functions to fit the listener in real-time. We evaluate our sound localization method by studying the relationship between the estimation error of inverse ECTFs and the auditory sound localization score perceived by several listener. As a result, we clarified that the estimation error required of inverse ECTFs are less than -10 dB. In addition, we describe two adaptive inverse filtering methods in order to realize real-time signal processing implementation using affine projection algorithm and discusses the convergence time of an adaptive inverse filter to determine the initial value. It is clarified that method 2 based on copy weights with initial value is more effective than method 1 with filtered-x algorithm, in terms of convergence, if the initial value is the average of many listeners' impulse responses for our sound localization method.

In this paper, we present a comparative study on directly aligned multi point controlled wavefront synthesis (DMCWS) and wave field synthesis (WFS) for the realization of a high-accuracy sound reproduction system, and the amplitude, phase and attenuation characteristics of the wavefronts generated by DMCWS and WFS are assessed. First, in the case of DMCWS, we derived an optimal control-line coordinate based on a numerical analysis. Next, the results of computer simulations revealed that the wavefront in DMCWS has wide applicability in both the spatial and frequency domains with small amplitude and phase errors, particularly above the spatial aliasing frequency in WFS, and we clarified that the amplitude error in DMCWS has similar behavior to the well-known approximate expression for spatial decay in WFS; this implies the ease of taking into account estimating the amplitude error in DMCWS. Finally, we developed wavefront measurement system and measured a DMCWS wavefront using our wavefront measurement system and algorithm. The results of measurements clarified the frequency characteristics of a loudspeaker. Also, DMCWS has wide applicability in frequency domains in actual environments. From these findings, we concluded the advantageousness of DMCWS compared with WFS.

Out-of-head sound localization achieved via binaural earphones is indispensable for a virtual sound system. It is necessary to measure the two transfer functions of each subject, Spatial Sound Transfer Function (SSTF) and Ear Canal Transfer Function (ECTF), for achieving sound localization. It is well known that the quality of sound localization may be poor if the individual transfer functions are not accurately reproduced. This is because each subject has his/her own transfer functions. It is very important to clarify which function includes more individual information, SSTF or ECTF, in order to implement a simpler model. Therefore, we introduce the quantity of "Personal differences" for investigating the subject's transfer functions included in SSTF and ECTF. We measure the transfer functions SSTF and ECTF of 60 subjects in a soundproofed room, and analysis of the data using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and three subjective assessment tests. This study finds that ECTF differs more widely from person to person than SSTF.