Dual radius spherical cardioid microphone arrays for binaural auralization

The direction dependent analysis of impulse response measurements using spherical microphone arrays can deliver a universal basis for binaural auralization. A new method using dual radius open sphere arrays is proposed to overcome limitations in practical realizations of such arrays. Different methods to combine the two radii have been analyzed and will be presented. A plane wave decomposition in conjunction with a high resolution HRTF database is used to generate a binaural auralization, wherein the different designs are simulated under ideal and real conditions. The results have been evaluated in a quality grading experiment. It is shown that the dual radius cardioids design is an effective method to enhance the perceived quality in comparison to conventional spherical array designs.