Headphone-Based Spatial Sound

With its power to transport the listener to a distant real or virtual world, realistic spatial audio has a significant role to II play for immersive communications. Headphone-based rendering is particularly attractive for mobile communications systems. Augmented realism and versatility in applications can be achieved when the headphone signals respond dynamically to the motion of the listener. The timely development of miniature lowpower motion sensors is making this technology possible. This article reviews the physical and psychoacoustic foundations, practical methods, and engineering challenges to the realization of motion-tracked sound over headphones. Some new applications that are enabled by this technology are outlined.