Effect of Sound Source Scattering on Measurement of Near-Field Head-Related Transfer Functions

A simple spherical head and pulsating spherical sound source model are proposed to investigate the effect of multiple scattering between the head and the sound source on near-field head-related transfer function (HRTF) measurement. Multipole expansion method is used to calculate HRTFs of the model, then the relationships among the magnitude error of HRTF with frequency, source direction, source size, and the distance between the head centre and the sound source are analysed. The results show that to ensure the magnitude error of HRTF within 1.0dB up to 20kHz, for source distance not less than 0.15m or 0.20m, the radius of the sound source should not exceed 0.03m or 0.05m, respectively. The conclusion suggests an appropriate size of sound source in near-field HRTF measurement.