Evaluation of Head Movements in Short-term Measurements and Recordings with Human Subjects using Head-Tracking Sensors

Abstract

Measurements for spatial hearing research, binaural recordings, virtual reality techniques etc. often rely on Head-Related Transfer Functions of human subjects, head-tracking techniques etc. Individually measured HRTFs and recordings on human heads may result in more accurate localization and sound field rendering. On the other hand, the measurement and recording procedure raise new problems such as decreased signal-to-noise ratio or subject comfort. For measurements with human subjects lots of methods are used from free heads to different head fixations methods. This study analyses the range of unwanted head movements during measurements using different sensors and environmental conditions based on the circular angle variance, errors in yaw-pitch-roll directions and magnitude of standard deviation. Results show errors about 2 degrees and magnitudes of standard deviation of 2-8 cm depending on the situation as well as a preference for sitting instead of standing posture.