Anthropometric head quintiles can validate headphone reproducibility at design time
Evidence
Statistical analysis of the HRTF dataset has identified the person closest to the average set referred to as ARCHIE (derived from archetype). Figure 15.6(b) is a photograph of several 3D-printed custom heads and pinnae. The four heads at the front represent the quintiles of the 350 humans in terms of the size and shapes of their heads and ears. Missing from the photograph is the average head ARCHIE. Each head can be equipped with different pinnae, microphones for measurements at the blocked entrance of the canal or an ear simulator for measurements at the DRP. The heads can be used for psychoacoustic experiments or to validate whether a headphone design has good reproducibility across a statistical distribution of heads and ears. — Toole, Floyd E, Sound reproduction- the acoustics and…, 1753
Categorization
Category: Craft and Method
- XREF: The quintile-manikin approach parallels using percentile dummies in automotive and hearing-aid test methodologies.
Related
- 3D-printed quintile heads let designers test headphones across a population distribution. (similarity 0.88)
- Testing real human panels for anatomical representativeness is impractical, driving manikin approaches (similarity 0.85)
- Test fixture fidelity to human measurements remains an open question (similarity 0.85)
- Artificial manikins can approximate a target population for headphone testing. (similarity 0.83)
- Head and ear variation makes fixture measurements unreliable predictors of listening (similarity 0.81)
- Headphone reproducibility varies strongly with frequency, worse at bass and treble extremes (similarity 0.79)
- Headphone positioning causes large measurement variation below 500 Hz and above 3 kHz. (similarity 0.79)
- Individual HRTF measurements give the most accurate external ear emulation (similarity 0.78)
- Headphone measurement variability is greatest below 500 Hz and above 3 kHz (similarity 0.78)
Broader Connections
- Headphone reproducibility varies strongly with frequency, worse at bass and treble extremes
#corroborates(0.75) — Toole, Floyd E, Sound reproduction- the acoustics and…, 1747 - Binaural microphones capture exact tympanum signals but depend on one’s own head shape
#complicates(0.72) — Eric J. Heller, Why You Hear What You Hear- An…, 474