The binaural measurements for identification of source position

In this thesis,we study spatial hearing which including binaural cues and spectral cues for sound localization. Binaural cues have some drawbacks: ITD and IID only work on their suitable frequenccy range and have problems on the ‘cone of confusion’.The spectal cues, HRTF ( Head Related Transfer Function) points out the acoustic filtering effects on receving sound from the sound source to the head and torso. Sound source from different spatial angles have different spectrals too. Two sound localization methods by microphone arrray are investigated, MUSIC ( Multiple Signal Classification) algorithm and SLAM ( Speaker Localization by a Arrayed Microphone). We use computer to simulate sound signals and then construct particle microphone arrays, which use a DAQ ( Data acquisition) to transmit sound signal to a computer, and use NI LabVIEW and MATLAB to operate MUSIC and SLAM. The experiment indicate the sound localization results are reliable in the quiet room. In addition, we study spectral cues for sound localization because of microphone array cannot expalin why human can determine the direction of sound source by only two ears. Using HRTF as the main recognization cue, then building neural network model with MIT HRTF database, different coded directional informations are headed to do sound localizations. The results indicate good accuracy on azimuth and elevation angle recognization.