Subjective evaluation of the combining effect between the virtual bass and head related transfer functions

Earphones are commonly equipped with miniature loudspeaker units, which cannot transmit enough power of low-frequency sound. Meanwhile, there is often only one loudspeaker unit employed on each side of the earphone, whereby the multi-channel spatial audio processing cannot be applied. Therefore, the combined usage of the virtual bass (VB) and head-related transfer functions (HRTFs) is necessary for an immersive listening experience with earphones. However, the combining effect of the VB and HRTFs has not been comprehensively reported. The VB is developed based on the missing fundamental effect, providing that the presence of harmonics can be perceived as their fundamental frequency, even if the fundamental frequency is not presented. HRTFs describe the transmission process of a sound propagating from the sound source to human ears. Monaural audio processed by a pair of HRTFs can be perceived by the listener as a sound source located in the direction associated with the HRTFs. This paper carries out subjective listening tests and their results reveal that the harmonics required by the VB should be generated in the same direction as the high-frequency sound. The bass quality is rarely distorted by the presence of HRTFs, but the localization accuracy is occasionally degraded by the VB.