Boundary Element Analysis for Individual Acoustic Responses in Ear Canal of Korean Adults

Abstract

Individual differences in head-related transfer functions(HRTFs) were calculated using boundary element(BE) models for three Korean adults. The BE models for the individuals were developed from the computerized tomography(CT) images of the individuals. The BE models were composed of the head, pinna, and ear canal. The frequency-dependent impedance boundary conditions were imposed on the skin, hair, and tympanic membrane. The HRTFs calculated from the individual BE models showed large difference above 2 kHz in magnitude and in the locations of peaks and valleys of the frequency spectrums, which should be considered in virtual auditory sound field. The identified individual differences in the HRTFs demonstrate that the developed BE models can be utilized successfully in order to obtain the HRTFs information of individuals.