Interaural time differences (ITDs) are important cues for
determining the azimuth location of a sound source and
need to be accurately reproduced, in a virtual reality (VR)
environment, to achieve a realistic sense of sound location for the listener. ITDs are usually included in head
related transfer functions (HRTFs) used for audio rendering, and can be individualised to match the user’s head
size (e.g. longer ITDs are needed for larger head sizes).
In recent years, studies have shown that it is possible
to train subjects to adapt and improve their performance
in sound localisation skills to non-individualized HRTFs.
The analysis of such improvements has focused mainly
on adaptation to monoaural spectral cues rather than binaural cues such as ITDs. In this work listeners are placed
in a VR environment and are asked to localise the source
of a noise burst in the horizontal plane. Using a generic
non-individualized HRTF with its ITD modified to match
the head size of each participant, test and training phases
are alternated, with the latter providing continuous auditory feedback. The experiment is then repeated with ITDs
simulating larger (150%) and smaller (50%) head sizes.
Comparing localisation accuracy before and after training, it is observed that while training seems to improve
sound localisation performance, this varies according to
the simulated head size and target location.