Pinecone Research Labs  
The  frequency  of  use  for  binaural  sound  
in  film  for  headphone  use  and  its  effect  
on  binaural  acclimatisation.  

Part  1.  Proposal  

Benjamin Costerton 

 
 
 
May, 2017 

 
   recordings  have  also  found  a  use  as  a  
The  frequency  of  use  for  binaural   means  of  demonstrating  3D  sound  [7],  
sound  in  film  for  headphone  use   producing  music  recordings  featuring  
and  its  effect  on  binaural   effective  spatially  attributes  [4],  as  well  as  
being  used  for  sound  effects  recordings  
acclimatisation.  
[8,9].  This  research  explores  the  use  of  
Part  1.  Proposal    
binaural  recordings  in  the  visual  medium  
  of  film,  where  a  single,  static,  visual  cue  
1.  Introduction   such  as  a  television  is  accompanied  by  a  
  2.0  stereo  soundtrack  listened  to  via  
Humans,  like  all  mammals,  adapt  hearing   headphones.    
to  better  understand  new  sonic    
environments  [1,2].  On  first  listening  to    
any  form  of  binaural  sound,  the  listener  is   1.1  Binaural  recording  in  context  to  this  
changing  his/her  listening  experience  by   research  
listening  to  someone  else's  ears,  be  it  a    
head  model  or  otherwise.     Binaural  recordings  in  the  context  of  this  
  paper  will  refer  to  any  stereo  recordings  
The  research  will  refer  to  binaural  sound   which  attempt  to  imitate  human  hearing  
as  any  stereo  sound  including  either   beyond  that  of  stereo  recording  
binaural  recordings,  or  binaural  synthesis.   techniques  such  as  XY,  AB,  MS  for  
Binaural  recordings  will  be  used  as  a  term   example.  Binaural  recordings  in  the  
to  refer  to  sound  recorded  using  a  binaural   context  of  this  paper  are  stereo  recordings  
microphone.  Binaural  synthesis  will  be   assisted  by  the  model  of  at  least  the  
used  as  a  term  to  refer  to  any  sound  were   human  pinna.  Reference  will  be  made  to  
a  binaural  effect  has  been  achieve  via   more  expensive  and  professionally  used  
post-­production  processes.     equipment  such  as  the  Neumann  KU100  
  [10]  and  G.R.A.S  KEMAR  HATS  [11]  
Binaural  sound  has  been  used  for   model,  but  the  focus  will  be  on  
audio-­only  advertisements  [3]  and  visual   microphones  found  at  the  consumer  to  
media  within  the  music  genre  [4],  as  well   prosumer  level  such  as  the  3Dio  Free  
as  in  film  and  television  [5,6].  Binaural   Space  range  [12],  as  well  as  any  
microphones  featuring  pinna  moulds  in  an   Previous  research  has  been  carried  out  to  
attempt  to  achieve  a  binaural  effect.     see  how  a  film  would  sound  if  re-­recorded  
  in  its  entirety  using  binaural  recording  
1.2  Adapting  to  HRTF  data   techniques  [13].  The  examples  produced  
  by  Miramontes  were  re-­recorded  using  the  
Mendonca,  Compas,  Dias,  Santos  [1],   Sound  Professionals  SP-­TFB-­2  [14],  an  
found  that  within  a  time  frame  of  around   in-­ear  wearable  microphone  that  uses  
20mins  or  less,  non-­experienced  and   your  own  head  and  pinna  to  make  a  
experienced  listeners  could  improve   binaural  recording.  The  film  in  the  
localisation  of  sound  in  both  azimuth  and   example,  Saving  Private  Ryan,  does  show  
elevation.  Using  recordings  of  both  noise   a  good  sense  3D  sound,  although  does  
and  speech,  presented  via  Etymotics   suffer  from  some  timbral  issues.    
ER-­4B  MicroPro  earphones,  listeners    
decreased  their  localisation  errors   2.2  Implementation  of  binaural  
immediately  after  the  test  in  azimuth  and   elements    
elevation  by  5.5​°  and  up  to  5°    
respectively.  ​Kline  &  Werner  [2],  more   Other  experimental  films  [5]  have  used  
recently  also  found  that  listeners  who  were   binaural  synthesis  to  adapt  elements  of  
trained  with  anechoic  non-­individual  HRTF   the  soundtrack,  normally  sound  effects,  to  
data  for  about  10-­20  minutes  showed  a   a    binaural  format.  The  short  film  by  
decrease  in  localisation  errors  when   Defendi  demonstrates  the  use  of  binaural  
identifying  azimuth  and  elevation  angles.     algorithm  simulation  to  mix  sound  effects,  
The  two  pieces  of  research  above  show   giving  them  a  more  3D  appearance.  The  
that  humans  can  adapt  their  hearing  to   use  in  binaural  synthesis  is  a  popular  
non-­individual  HRTF  data,  and  that  with   method  of  adapting  recordings  to  a  3D  
time  allowed  for  training,  or  adapting  to   binaural  environment.  The  use  of  binaural  
non-­individual  HRTF  data,  binaural   synthesis  to  adapt  soundtracks  to  a  
recordings,  for  example,  could  be  used  to   binaural  format  has  been  used  for  some  
improve  the  3D  image  of  a  2.0  stereo   time.    
soundtrack  when  listened  to  via   Research  carried  out  by  BBC  R&D  in  2012  
headphones.     for  the  Private  Peaceful  radio  play  
  produced  in  binaural  used  BRIR  to  
  measure  a  3D  space  and  apply  it  to  
2.  Existing  use  of  binaural  in  film   multi-­channel  audio  [15,16].  While  using  
  pre-­user  implemented  HRTF  data  timbral  
The  following  section  explores  the  current   issues  will  most  likely  be  encountered  
use  on  binaural  sound  in  stereo   through  variables  created  by  the  
soundtracks  to  accompany  visual  content.   difference  between  the  equipment  used  to  
The  research  acknowledges  the  use  of   capture  HRTF  data,  the  content  
binaural  sound  in  both  radio  and  music   manipulation  stage,  and  the  HRTF  data  of  
performances  [4],  as  well  as  commercial   the  end  user.  These  issues  of  course  do  
audio-­only  content  for  companies  such  as   also  apply  to  traditional  binaural  recording  
Spotify  [3],  but  is  focusing  on  the  use  of   where  by  the  audio  recorded  will  only  
binaural  to  enhance  2.0  stereo   contain  one  set  of  HRTF  data  (that  of  the  
soundtracks  for  film/tv  use.     microphone)  and  therefore  will  not  match  
  any  end-­users  HRTF  data.  The  research  
2.1  Full  surround  re-­recording   accepts  these  issues  and  is  therefore  
  focusing  on  the  frequency  of  use  for  these  
binaural  elements,  whether  they  are   of  binaural  elements  at  varying  intervals  
recordings  or  synthesised.     throughout  the  stimuli.    
   
  Soundtrack  A  -­  contains  no  binaural  
3  Reason  for  experiment   content.  All  content  is  either  2.0  stereo,  or  
  mono  recordings  mixed  into  a  2.0  stereo  
The  research  aims  to  gain  an   soundtrack.  
understanding  of  how  to  best  use  binaural    
recordings  to  enhance  a  stereo   Soundtrack  B  -­  contains  binaural  content  
soundtrack  intended  for  headphone  use.   at  short  intervals.  Binaural  elements  are  
The  main  focus  of  the  research  is  to  see  if   present  in  the  soundtrack  at  intervals  of  
the  frequency  of  use  of  binaural  elements   less  than  5  seconds.    
will  make  a  change  to  how  the  listener    
interprets  the  perceived  spatial  properties   Soundtrack  C  -­  contains  binaural  content  
of  the  soundtrack.  If  binaural  elements  are   at  medium  intervals.  Binaural  elements  
to  be  used  in  a  stereo  soundtrack  for   are  present  in  the  soundtrack  at  intervals  
headphone  use,  will  they  need  to  be  used   greater  than  5  seconds,  but  no  greater  
constantly  in  order  to  achieve  spatially   than  10  seconds.    
enhanced  audio?  Or  will  an  infrequent  use    
be  enough  to  give  the  listener  a  perceived   Soundtrack  D  -­  contains  binaural  content  
sense  of  enhanced  spatial  awareness?   at  long  intervals.  Binaural  elements  are  
  present  in  the  soundtrack  at  intervals  
4  Methodology   greater  than  10  seconds.    
   
The  following  methodology  is  a  proposal   Soundtrack  E  -­  consists  entirely  of  
outlining  the  design  of  the  test  stimuli  and   binaural  content.  Everything  the  listener  is  
test  conditions  for  the  proposed   hearing  has  been  recorded  in  binaural.    
experiment.      
  Soundtrack  F  -­  consist  of  non  binaural  
The  test  will  be  based  on  the  ITU-­R   content  and  is  identical  to  soundtrack  A.  
recommendation  BS.1534-­3  [17].     This  soundtrack  is  acting  as  a  control.  
The  test  stimuli  will  be  presented  to  all    
participants  in  the  same  sequence,  but   Each  stimuli  is  45  seconds  in  length.  The  
participants  are  permitted  to  listen  back  to   research  acknowledges  that  ITU-­R  
any  stimuli  for  comparison  to  another.  Six   BS.1534-­3  recommends  test  stimuli  be  no  
stimuli  will  be  presented  for  participants,  1   longer  than  10s  [17],  however  as  previous  
known  reference,  4  variants  featuring   research  has  shown  users  can  take  
binaural  elements,  and  1  hidden  control.   considerably  longer  to  adapt  to  HRTF  data  
The  information  regarding  how  the   [1,2].  The  stimuli  length  has  been  chosen  
binaurally  enhanced  soundtracks  were   based  on  the  length  of  short-­form  visual  
mixed  will  not  disclosed  to  the  participants.     media,  like  that  found  in  promotional  
  content  (30s-­60s)  and  is  therefore  
  comparable  to  previous  examples  found  in  
4.1  Test  stimuli   the  research  [3].    
   
Six  stimuli  will  be  produced  for  the   The  listening  assessment  is  designed  to  
research  containing  dialogue,  music,  and   take  no  longer  than  5  minutes  in  length  to  
sound  effects  each  with  varying  amounts   avoid  listener  fatigue.    
    
4.2  Acknowledgement  of  previous   4.4  Method  of  rating  results  
research    
  Participants  will  be  asked  to  rate  the  
The  research  acknowledges  that  tests   success  of  perceived  spatial  attributes  
refered  to  earlier  in  this  paper  have  shown   using  a  continuous  quality  scale  (CQS)  as  
that  humans  can  adapt  to  new  HRTF  data   seen  in  figure.1.    
in  approximately  10-­20mins  [1,2],  and  that    
the  test  stimuli  in  the  research  is   Figure  1.  
considerably  shorter.  The  research  aims    
to  establish  whether  there  is  a  link    
between  the  intervals  between  binaural    
content,  or  amount  of  binaural  content  in    
the  soundtrack,  and  the  perceived    
success  of  the  spatial  enhancement.      
   
As  the  research  is  using  stimuli  that  does    
not  consist  of  continuous  sound  from  one    
set  of  HRTF  data,  the  conditions  of  test    
would  not  give  the  listener  a  chance  to    
completely  adapt  their  hearing  to  one  set   (BS.1534-­01)  

of  HRTF  data.  Therefore  the  test  stimuli  is    

designed  to  see  if  there  is  a  clear  desired   Participants  will  be  given  the  option  to  
interval  between  binaural  content,  or   listen  back  to  previous  stimuli  if  they  
amount  of  binaural  content,  that  helps  the   choose  to  in  aid  of  making  an  assessment.    
listener  stay  aware  of  the  perceived    
enhancements  to  the  spatial  attributes  of   Sountrack  A  will  be  given  to  the  
the  stereo  soundtrack.     participants  as  a  known  control.  The  
  participants  will  be  informed  that  
4.3  Participants     soundtrack  A  features  no  attempt  to  
  improve  the  spatial  properties  of  the  
The  ideal  participants  for  the  listening  test   soundtrack.  The  participants  will  not  be  
will  be  a  mix  of  'pro  listers'  and  'naive   asked  to  rate  soundtrack  A  and  will  be  
listeners'.  'Pro  listeners'  being  participants   informed  that  it  acted  as  a  reference  to  
who  work  in  the  audio  engineering   assess  the  other  stimuli  against.    
industry  and  actively  listen  to  sound    
crucially  whilst  working.  'Naive  listeners'   4.5  Listening  Conditions  
being  participants  who  have  good  working    
hearing  but  don't  necessarily  work  within   All  participants  will  listen  to  the  test  stimuli  
the  audio  industry  and  who  do  not  need  to   as  .wav  format  files  played  at  24bit  48kHz  
listen  to  sound  in  a  critical  fashion.     mixed  to  EBU  R128  broadcast  loudness  
  standards  of  -­23dB  LUFS  [18].  The  
Ideally  an  even  mix  of  'pro'  and  'naive'   participants  will  all  use  Sony  MDR  7506  
listeners  will  provide  a  good  balance  in  the   broadcast  quality  headphones  and  listen  
results.     to  the  stimuli  in  a  room  that  features  no  
  extenuouse  outside  noise.  
   
   
 
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