Coordinate Acquisition System For Sound Source Direction Localization Experiment

Auditory localization on spatial sound sources is an important life skill for human beings.In the psychoacoustic experiment of auditory localization,measurement results are related to subject’s localization ability,and the way of pointing also affects it.This paper mainly discusses the feasibility of convenient pointing method and the localization experiment platform based on these pointing methods.In the experiment of sound source direction localization,the traditional method of data collection is mainly reported by the experiment assistant,but in this way,the experiment is low efficiency and accuracy.With the development of science and technology,there has been pointing methods using coordinate intelligent sensing equipment(such as FASTRACK)or graphical user interface(GUI).In comparison,the former often requires special hardware devices,but the cost of software and hardware is higher and has a special request for the test environment(for example,FASTRACK electromagnetic tracking has easily interfered with by metal objects).Therefore,the GUI-based pointing method has attracted the attention of researchers in recent years from an application-oriented perspective.Based on the traditional localization experiment,a new GUI-based pointing method is designed in this paper.As an example verification,the pink noise of 2s was selected as the stimulus signal,and localization tests that on the horizontal plane were carried out for 12 positions at an interval of 30°.Experiment dates were collected by two kinds of traditional recording methods and the newly designed GUI-based pointing method.Results show that the GUI-based pointing method is not significantly different from the other two traditional recording methods,which indicate that the GUI-based pointing method can record the perception result well.Then the pointing method was integrated with the playback of virtual sound sources to form a complete sound source localization system to further verify the accuracy of the pointing method by comparing the localization results obtained by head-related transfer function(HRTF)of individualized and general artificial head.To improve the localization performance and even play the role of localization training,a simple sound source localization game with a total of 12 positions at 30 ° intervals on a horizontal plane with the help of the audio engine was designed in this paper.Refreshing the relative position of the sound source and the character in real time,and signals were replayed through the headset so that the player could perceive the change of spatial positions.During the game,the character’s motion data(such as rotation angle,walking path,and experimental time-consuming parameters)are saved in real time to evaluate the player’s localization ability in dynamic game scene.With increasing of test time,the improvement of the sound source localization ability,which provides a basis for the analysis of spatial auditory localization and training effects.The GUI-based pointing method and the dynamic localization test of the game scene improve the efficiency of the localization experiment while satisfying the accuracy of the experiment,which is beneficial to promote the use of spatial auditory localization experiment or training.